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Volume 13 Number 1-2 Jan.-July, 2012
Association for Social Engineering, Research & TrainingPATNA
THE SOCIAL ENGINEERA Journal of International Perspective on Development
The Social Engineer is bi-annual journal of the Association for Social EngineeringResearch & Training (ASSERT). It is devoted to creation and dissemination of knowledgeregarding the role of Social Science input in the national development and socialtransformations. Besides, communication from change agents and development/administration/ managers and book reviews are also included.
l EDITORProf. Arif HassanDeputy Director, Graduate School of ManagementInternational Islamic University, Malaysia
l EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARDJai B. P. Sinha, Professor of Psychology & Management,Assert Institute of Management Studies, Patna (India).T. N. Sinha, Professor of Human Resource Management,Assert Institute of Management Studies, Patna (India).
l MANAGING EDITORR. B. N. Sinha, Head, Department of PsychologyB. S. College, Danapur, Patna 800 012 (India)
l CONSULTING EDITORSDharm P. S. Bhawuk, University of Hawai at Manoa, USARabindra N. Kanungo, McGill University, Montreal (Canada)Ramadhar Singh, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (India)Arvind K. Sinha, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (India)R. C. Tripathi, Allahabad University, Allahabad (India)Suman K. Singh, UNICEF, Jaipur (India)Gajendra K. Verma, University of Manchester (UK)Rajeshwar Mishra, CDHI, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal (India)Jyoti Verma, Patna University, Patna (India)Sudha Rani Sinha, Assert Institute of Management Studies, Patna (India).Sunita Singh-Sengupta, University of Delhi (India)Peter B. Smith, University of Sussex (UK)Vidya N. Singh, Consultant, Washington D.C. (USA)Ishwar Dayal, International Management Institute, New Delhi (India)
Published by : Prof. T. N. SINHA, Secretary, ASSERT, for and on behalf of theAssociation for Social Engineering, Research and Training,37, A. N. Path, North Shri Krishna Puri, Patna 800 013 (India)Phone : 91-0612-2279848 • E-mail : [email protected]
Printed at : Vidya Printers, Near Radha Krishna Mandir, Shivpuri, Patna 23Mobile : 9234849923 • E-mail : [email protected]
The Social EngineerA Journal of International Perspective on Development
Reg. No. 52453/92 Vol. 13 No. 1-2 Jan.-July, 2012
CONTENTS
04. About Assert
05. Editors' Note
06. Cultural Roots of Indian Mindset — Jai B. P. Sinha
22. Educated Unemployed Young — Lal Bahadur SinghMen in India : Their Approach to Meera KumariTime Management Nisha Singh
33. Preventing Accidents throughBehavior Based Safety — H L Kaila
41. Personality Profile of Bodo Militants in — Chandra B. P. SinghAssam Study of Length of Detention Shyama Nand Jha
I. B. Chaturvedi
49. Advances in Behavioural Science : — P. K. MishraAn Organizational Perspective Soumya Mishra
60. Public Health Perspective of CommonMental Disorders : A Review — Nalini Bikkina
71. Context Sensitivity as a Factor ofOrganizational Behaviour — Sudha Rani Sinha
80. Culture-Sensitive Method forExploring Social Reality — R B N Sinha
91. Organizational Justice and Extra-RoleBehavior : Does Culture Matter? — Arif Hassan
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 20124
ABOUT ASSERTFounded by a group of social scientists, Association for Social Engineering,
Research & Training (ASSERT) represents a variety of areas and skills, strives towardsexpanding and utilizing social science knowledge for engineering human resourceleading to socio-economic development.
About two and a half decades back, they (social scientists) began reflecting uponwhat they had been doing so far in respect of people's problems and social crisis.They were conscious of the slow rate of development marked with regional imbalance,decreasing harmony and growing intolerance in the society, decay in its vital institutions,sickness in work organizations and above all, people's loss of faith in the system.
There was a phase of hesitation and soul searching but finally they resolved toexpand their roles to go beyond the boundaries of their respective disciplines and formASSERT. The philosophy is not to turn into social workers but to serve as a linkbetween social sciences and our societies, to expand the knowledge base and to bringit to all those who can use it for engineering socio-economic transformation.
The nucleus of social scientists, who were primarily teachers and researchers,established in their respective fields, soon attracted others– managers, social workers,scholars, bureaucrats and technocrats sharing the mission. ASSERT, has now about50 members not only from Bihar, but also from other parts of the country and abroad.
ASSERT offers services in research, evaluation, training, monitoring, counselingand testing in the areas of management, health, education, rural development, women'sempowerment, family and child care.
ASSERT have two functional wings —l AIMS
Assert Institute of Management Studies (AIMS) provides highly innovative shortterm courses, training, research, evaluation, seminar, workshop, consultancy etc.
l ACCTSAssert Centre for Counseling and Testing Services (ACCTS) has facilities forfamily and marital counseling, testing and guidance to children, individual andgroup therapy.
Office : 37, A. N. PATH, NORTH S. K. PURIPATNA 800 013 (INDIA)
Phone : 91-0612-2279848E-mail : [email protected]
The Social Engineer 5
Editors' Note -
As an organ of ASSERT, the Social Engineer hasalways strived to serve as a link between the social sciencesknowledge base and social engineering for societal transformationand development. We regret that its publication remainedsuspended during 2002-2007 due to unavoidable circumstances.
Beginning this issue, we resume our attempt to highlightthe research findings as well as field experiences of socialscientists and development administrators/managers from theirrespective areas of interest and work. As such, we are veryhappy to include issues such as pro-environmental behaviour,rural violence, mobile phone usage vis-à-vis interpersonalrelationship, technological bases of gender equity, and dimensionsof psychological capital at workplace in the article/papersection of the present issue which has been duly enriched bypractitioners' contributions on combating HIV/ AIDS in India,managing elementary education in Bihar, and the relationshipbetween internal audit and good governance.
Our next (July 2008) issue is especially focused onSocially Relevant Psychology. In keeping with our resolve tobring out the journal on a regular basis, we look forward tocontinued support from all our contributors, readers, andwell-wishers.
As a journal devoted to dissemination of knowledge regarding therole of social science inputs in social transformation, The Social Engineerhas been publishing articles and papers from diverse disciplines e.g.,Economics, History, Management, Political Science, Psychology, SocialPsychiatry, Sociology etc. However, bringing out such a social sciencejournal on a regular basis at times becomes fairly difficult, especiallywhen recessionary shadows are looming large on the economic horizonand support from subscribers, sponsors, and advertisers is conspicuousby its absence. Hence, this joint issue of TSE.
Growing expenditure on Information Technology in business organizationshas often been associated with misuse of funds, resources and infrastructure.It is against this background that the first paper in this volume, by ArifHassan and Sajid Hassan, attempts to identify the problems generallyassociated with IT spending within the organization and possible remediesby referring to researches done by prominent scholars within the field. Inthe next paper, Sushma Pandey traces contextual variations in patternsand trends of domestic violence vis-a-vis certain psychological variablese.g., marital conflict, and empowerment. The following paper by B. N.Prasad presents an analytical overview of the tourism scenario in UttarPradesh both in terms of potential and realization thereof. A comparativestudy of health and well being related consequences of employment statusamongst working and home-maker women is reported next by AnubhutiDubey. The last two papers in this volume focus on an appraisal of theclassroom proceedings of primary schools under DPEP III and an explorationinto the pattern of inter-relationship between cultural orientation andrural development amongst a sample of householdes in Bihar and UttarPradesh respectively.
We are thankful to all our contributors and well-wishers for theircontinued support.
It gives us immense pleasure to bring new life to The Social Engineer. Taking advantageof information technology, we decided to publish the journal online. The first issue of thiselectronic publication is before you. We do hope that it will reach to wider audience and atthe same time save cost of publication and distribution. We also believe that the onlinepublication will also attract more scholars to contribute to this journal.
This issue contains a mix of theoretical and empirical papers. It ranges from a highlythought provoking and analytical submission on cultural roots of Indian mindset to empiricalpapers on a variety of important topics. The first paper, by J B P Sinha delves deep into Indianmindset and traces its evolution over time with its meaning, contradictions, and continuity. Weare sure readers of SE will get valuable insight into the cultural roots of The Indian psyche.Thenext paper, authored by L B Singh and others, reports the findings of an empirical study ontime management of professionally educated and non-professionally educated unemployed andemployed individuals. The next paper entitled Preventing Accidents through Behavior basedSafety, is based upon the author's involvement and field observations over a long period oftime while conducting safety training programs in a variety of industries. Several practicalsuggestions are given to improve the safe work practices. The paper authored by C B P Singhand others examines the personality profile of Bodo militants serving different lengths ofdetention. It gives a rare insight into the personality-profile of such a group and the changesthat occur in their personality over time. The paper authored by P K Mishra and SoumyaMishra presents an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of Indian organizations and reflects onthe advances in social sciences that may be useful to practising managers. Nalini Bikkina'spaper entitled 'Public health Perspective of Common Mental Disorders' presents a review ofliterature on the prevalence and demographic correlates of common mental disorders andhighlights the need for immediate attention on this issue. The paper authored by Sudha RaniSinha examines the role of context in promoting different types of behavior in organizations.The contexts examined were autocratic, competitive, and integrative work environments. R BN Sinha examines methodological issues in using self-rating tools to study social reality. Itprovides empirical evidence to suggest that social desirability effect is quite true in self-ratingmethods of data collection. He argues for using respondents as informants of others ratherthan themselves in the study of social reality. Hassan in his paper on organizational justiceand extra-role behavior examines this relationship in Malaysian cultural context and reports thatorganizational justice is not a significant determinant of helping and voice behavior in a societyhigh on power distance and collectivism.
All in all, the issue represents a variety of theoretical as well as empirical papers onimportant subjects. We are looking forward to your comments, feedback, as well as valuablesubmissions.
Arif HassanRan Bijay Narayan Sinha
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 20126
* ASSERT Institute of Management Studies, 37, A. N. Path, North S. K. Puri, Patna 800 013Email : [email protected]
Cultural Roots ofIndian Mindset
Jai B. P. Sinha*
Abstract
Indian mindset is nestled in the culture having a pluralistic worldview along witha strong belief in the validity of ancient wisdom, which together account for thecontinuity amidst continuous changes. The cultural preference for continuity arisesfrom the orientation to add new ideas and influences to the old ones, tolerate theresultant differences, draw on mythology to understand and interpret contemporaryreality, and oral tradition to transmit ideas and influences across time and sectionsof people. The primordial mindset is the foundation on which subsequent ideasand influences from Islamic invasions and rule, colonial experience, exposure tothe West, and global impacts were superimposed resulting into an amalgam ofdiverse and discrepant beliefs, values, norms, and practices. They causeindecisiveness, inaction, or half-hearted implementation of decisions as well asshifting blends of thoughts, feelings, and actions to suit different persons, places,and time.
Indian Mindset and the MilieuThe collective mindset of the people of a place refers to the shared images that the
people have of themselves and others, which orient them to make sense of and react totheir immediate milieu consisting of other persons, objects, ideas, and events. The sharedimages could range from highly positive to largely negative leading either to approach themilieu and proactively engage it fruitfully or to turn defensive and detrimental to self andothers. The images are composed of assumptions, beliefs, values, norms, and practicesthat the people acquire in the process of interacting with the milieu over the generations.
A milieu is the reflection of a culture as perceived by its people. Culture is definedin many ways. In the present work, it is conceptualized as the human-made part of theenvironment (Herskovits, 1955). Whatever human beings create and modify are part of aculture. Culture is a product of its ecology and the history of how people have beenadapting to the ecology (Triandis, 1994). Thus, there exists a dynamic reciprocal influencerelationship between a culture and the mindset of the people living in that culture. People
The Social Engineer 7
construe their culture into a milieu byinterpreting cultural features through theirmindset and behave accordingly. The cultureprovides the feed to help shape people’smindset. Both – culture and the mindset –have a history – long or short. Indian culturehas a long documented history of over fourthousand years (Thapar, 1972). As a result,the Indian mindset has been in the makingsince the ancient time.
Continuity amidst ContinuousChange in Mindset
The history of a culture and its people’smindset reveals that they both maintaincontinuity, but they also change continuously.Continuity creates a comfort zone to carryon day to day transactions in habitual wayswithout expending much energy and time.But cultures are also open to pressures tochange either because of their innercontradictions, external forces impinging uponthem, or most often the joint impact of both.Cultures are engaged in active and continuousinteractions with surrounding physicalenvironment, exposed to major contemporaryevents, and vulnerable to emerging threats,receptive to unfolding opportunities, and opento unanticipated internal compulsions. Asthe environment is attended to, the eventsare acted upon, threats are coped with, theopportunities are availed of, and internalcontradictions are sorted out, the peopleare compelled to behave differently, set oradd new norms or modify the existing ones,and reinterpret or replace their old values.In other words, the mindset keeps gettingmodified and restructured by rearranging theexisting components as well as incorporatingnew ones in order to enable the people to
adapt, survive, and prosper in the changingmilieu. If the changes in the milieu areenabling, people’s mindset rides on a positivetrajectory enjoying confidence and engagingothers progressive interactions whiledebilitating changes dampen people’s spiritand put their mindset on a downslide.
Over and above this universally operativedynamics, continuity and change in the Indianculture and mindset had an additional sourcethat was rooted in the belief that the ancientwisdom enshrined in the Vedas and theUpanishads are valid for all time. Hindusbelieved that there is one Ultimate Reality,Brahamn that permeates maya (thephenomenal reality) that is empiricallyexperienced but is essentially apparent ratherthan real. Phenomenal reality is ever changingbut its source– the Ultimate Reality– doesnot change at all– “…an unchanging realitysubsists beneath all apparent change, andtherefore that [phenomenal] change itself iswithout ultimate significance” (Lannoy, 1971/2008, p. 284). In other words, the changingmilieu is indeed a reality that is experiencedand has to be lived in, but with the realizationthat the core is essentially unchanging.That’s why the oldest of the Hindu scriptures,the Rig Veda (1,500 B.C.) pronounced thatwise men construe one and the same truthin different ways (Rig Veda, 1.164.46). TheUpanishads repeated this belief that thereare many paths to the Truth, or as LordKrishna preached in Bhagavad-Gita, “All pathslead to me”.
Once this seeming contradiction betweenthe unchanging core and its changing andvaried manifestations is reconciled, it is notillogical to hold a pluralistic worldview– intandem with the ancient wisdom– soliciting
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 20128
new ideas and influences. The Rig Vedaitself proclaimed: “Let noble thoughts cometo us from all directions” (1.89.9). Manycultural traditions indeed were retained overcenturies (Thapar, 2002, p. xxv). Basham(2007) specified that the continuity in Indiantradition is unparalleled in the world, “Inrespect of the length of continuous tradition,China comes second to India, and Greecemakes a poor third” (p. 3). This accountsfor the claim that “Indians live in morecenturies at the same time than most otherpeoples” (Lannoy, 1971/2008, p. 5), and “…the Indian way of borrowing while conserving,of juxtaposing the new and the old inhierarchical relations, would seem to originatein this great racial interaction nearly fourthousand years ago (p. 13)”.
Mechanisms for Continuity
There were four major psychic mecha-nisms that tended to maintain continuityfrom the ancient Indian thought whileaccommo-dating new ideas and influencesunder the impact of changing cultural milieu.
1. Adding the New to the Old
Jawaharlal Nehru described India as“…an ancient palimpsest on which layerupon layer of thought and reverie had beeninscribed, and yet no succeeding layer hadcompletely hidden or erased what had beenwritten previously” (Nehru, 1946/2001, p. 59).Nehru further explained that there wasinvariably “a visible attempt to understandand adapt the new and harmonize it withthe old, or at least with parts of the old,which were considered worth preserving (p.54) for addressing contemporary threats andopportunities. The new were basically an
interpretation of the old while retaining their“general spiri t” and “basic concepts”(Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1954, p. xxiv).
In reality, however, the new did not onlyinterpret and elaborate the existing doctrines,but added even radically inconsistent, andcontradictory thoughts and ideas that in manyinstances diluted the original spirit anddistorted the basic concepts. Because therewas a trend not to mention one’s name orthe time of one's contributions (Nakamura,1964), the authors simply added to theexisting texts and, in some instances, evenrearranged parts of them. As a result, theoriginal and the interpolations becameinseparable causing an amalgam ofinconsistent and even contradictory thoughtsin the same text. Only recently, there havebeen attempts to disentangle some of them.
For example, of the various ancient texts,the four among the most popular ones werereported to be full of interpolations. P. Sinha(1992) quoted scholars to show that whilePatanjali’s Yuga Sutra had only 83 originalverses, 112 verses (over 57%) wereinterpolated (pp. 56-57). As a result, whatwas formulated as yoga science was renderedas a religious treatise and the concept ofkarma was interpreted as luck, fate, anddestiny. Further, accepting the concept ofGod even contradicted the foundations ofthe system (P. Sinha, 1992, p. 57). TheMahabharat was reported to be composedin stages: from 8,800 verses of Jaya, through24,000 verses of the Bharata, to the presentday of 100,000 verses over a considerableperiod of time (Gupta & Ramchandran, 1976).As a resul t , “The complex it ies andinconsistencies of the epic [the Mahabharata]arise from the fact that underlying its plot
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is the hidden drama of a social transformationfrom the heroic ideals of the tribe to a morereligious and brahman-dominated castesociety” (Lannoy, 1971/2008, p. 298). Theoriginal Bhagavad-Gita had only certainportions of the first six chapters of the presentone. The second interpolator added six morechapters. The third one recast the wholepoem, added six entirely new chapters,inserted them in the body of the poem, andshifted the chapters (P. Sinha, 1987, p. 125).Consequently, Bhagavad-Gita is found to befull of contradictions. It affirms, for example,that everything in the world is pre-destined,yet recommends doing one’s duty, karmayoga, that is advocated as superior to allother methods of self-realization. However,the path of jnana (knowledge) is later onposited to be superior; then dhyana(meditation) is said to be superior to jnana,and finally a total and unconditional surrenderto Lord Krishna is said to waive all otherrequirements for self-realization. TheManusmriti listed many human values butalso legitimized a highly unequal and unjustsocial code of conduct. It was overtly positivetowards the brahmins in terms of concessionsmade in fines and punishments while beingoverly harsh to sudras and women fortransgressions of the social code of conduct.However, only 1,214 out of the total of 2,685verses (about 45 per cent) were found to beauthentic leaving the other 1,471 (about 55per cent) verses as subsequent interpolations(Kumar, 2007). Kumar further detected thatwhile certain verses (III - 55, 56, 57, 59, 62)glorified the position of women, others(IX - 3, 17) denied them any right of freedomand equitable social position. Certain versesdiscouraged (IX - 18) but others (II - 240)allowed women to read Vedic scriptures.
Similar contradictory positions were takenregarding child marriage (IX 90 & 94).
2. Tolerance of Religious Differences
Pluralistic worldview can be sustainedonly if there is tolerance of differences.Hinduism has been central to the Hindumindset. Yet, tolerance of other religionswas built into the Hindu mindset. Hinduism“is not a revealed religion, but grew andevolved from a variety of cults and beliefs,of which some had their foundations in Vedicreligion, and others were popular cults[continuing from the Indus valley civilization],which became associated with the moresophisticated religion, a concession, whichthe priests had to make to popular worship(Thapar, 1972, p. 132). Naturally, tolerancewas built into Hinduism. Vivekanandahighlighted this tolerance in his famousaddress to The World’s Parliament ofReligions in Chicago on September 11, 1893:
I am proud to belong to a religion whichhas taught the world both tolerance anduniversal acceptance. We believe not onlyin universal toleration, but accept all religionsas true [Italic added].
Hinduism was not institutionalized.There were temples to worship, manyoccasions to celebrate, sufficient numberof priests who functioned as intermediariesbetween people and gods, but they werenot indispensable. Hinduism allowed peopleto relate to the gods directly and worship inany way that they preferred. Persons bornas Hindus are Hindus even if they do notbelieve in gods, nor go to a temple, norinvite priests for conducting yajna, nor observereligious rites and rituals so long as theydo not denounce Hinduism and meetobligations and duties to their family, friends,
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and others. The equivalent of the term‘religion’ is ‘dharma’ which is derived fromthe root, dhri – that which holds the worldorder. Thus, religion is meant to maintainsocietal structure, human values, and naturalharmony. That’s why dharmashastras weredefined as the “natural laws” that prescribeand proscribe human behaviour within theHindu matrix of caste, gender, and the fourstages of life. Only over time, Manusmriti,became highly discriminating, segregating,and exclusive and was rightly denouncedby many. But the fact remains that both –the bright and the dark – faces of Hinduismare equally expressive of the Hindu mindsetthat essentially frames the Indian mindset(Kakar & Kakar, 2009, p. 4).
3. Metonymic Thinking
Metonymic thinking is another way tokeep the ancient alive in the present.Metonymic thinking means referring to divineand mythological characters and events ofancient constructions for illustrating day-to-day social transactions. Unlike people inthe West, Indians are generally named aftergods, goddesses, and saints and are believedto inherit their divine as well as not-so-divineattributes. Roland (1988) observed:
[Indian] Adults have deeply incorporated intotheir preconscious powerful emotional-cognitive images of the vitally alive, richlycomplex mythology told by various motheringfigure during their childhood. The plethoraof mythic models and relationships are notonly suitable for ego-ideal identifications, butalso give norms for correct reciprocal behaviourin the complex hierarchical relationships,where the dharma of each is elaborated inthe myth (p. 53).
Roland also reported that on certainoccasions Indians assume mythic characterbehaving accordingly for a while and thenswitching back to their social role. An oldlady in a family, for example, may enterinto the mode of one of the mothergoddesses, bless or rebuke or give directionsto the family members for their well being,and then return to the social role being totallyoblivious of what she did or said in her divinemode. Similarly, household objects areattributed sacred significance during a religiousceremony and thereafter used for regularhousehold purposes.
Metonymic thinking does not only keepthe ancient mythological characters alive,but provides a wide range of such charactersto choose from in order to justify what aperson thinks, feels, and behaves. He maybehave selfishly, but might refer to amythological character to rationalize hisbehaviour.
4. Oral Tradition
The oral tradition goes back to theVedic period and still casts its shadow onhow Indians now engage in their routines.The first of the Vedas, the Rig Veda, had10,589 verses that were precisely preservedwith the help of elaborate techniques ofrecitation for over 1,000 years before theycould be scr ipted. The Vedas weretransmitted from generation to generationwith inordinate fidelity. For example, therewere up to eleven forms of recitation of thesame text. The texts were subsequently“proof-read” by comparing the different recitedversions. Forms of recitation included the“mesh recitation” in which every two adjacentwords in the text were first recited in theiroriginal order, then repeated in the reverse
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order, and finally repeated again in the originalorder. There were painstaking instructionsin the Sama Veda about how particular hymnsmust be sung; to put great emphasis uponsounds of the words of the mantras and theeffect they could have on the environmentand the person who pronounced them.
The unusual preoccupation with preciserecitation was rooted in the belief that theexact pronunciations of prayers could compelgods and goddesses to appear, bless, andgrant boons to the worshipper. Lannoy (1971/2008) reported that "It [Indian culture] is sototally an oral culture that the Vedic Aryansbelieved that a deity could be compelled byutterances of the correct verbal formula todo exactly what the worshipper desired. …themagical power of word at no stage in thecultural evolution of India has been whollyabandoned" (p. 271).
From the ancient times, saints andphilosophers engaged each other overshastrarth (dialogue and debate) for daysexploring highly abstract philosophical issuespertaining to life, death, immortality, sufferingsand liberation from them, and so on. Thisinitiated a strong verbal tradition that seemsto have continued to the present time turningIndians into an “argumentative” people (Sen,2006) indulging in verbiose and hair splittingdiscussion that at times functions as asubstitute for action.
Layers of Indian Mindset
The primordial mindset served as thefoundation on which subsequent ideas andinfluences emanating from the Islamicinvasions and rules, colonial experiences,Western exposure, and recent globalization
were juxtaposed to result into a multi-layeredmindset. None of the layers or its constituentswas totally destroyed. They were allowedto exist or at most suppressed to beresurrected at a more favourable time andplace. The leading image and the worldviewat each layer of the mindset, its corecomponents, along with its concomitantfeatures and the impacting events and forceswere identified in the rest of the paper.
Primordial Mindset
The leading image of the primordialmindset radiated with a sense of culturalsuperiority arising out of the willingness towelcome new ideas and influences whilebeing confident to be able to contain themwithin the overarching Hindu worldview. Theessence of the Hindu worldview was thatthere are levels of reality – ranging frommost mundane to extremely idealistic, fromanimal instincts to div ine, and so onrepresenting what human beings have tolive with but what they must aspire andapproximate.
As a result, ancient Hindus indulgedin the diversity of consistent as well asinconsistent and even contradictory beliefs,values, and dispositions. And yet, they founda way to strike a balance, to think of idealsbut not to lose their sense of pragmatismor touch with reality– “Pragmatism, realism,and idealism exist side by side [in the Indianmind set] …sometimes simultaneously…”(Cohen, 2001, p. 53). For example, religiositycoex isted wi th secular ism, cosmiccollectivism allowed individualistic strivingto achieve life goals, hierarchical social orderrecognized individual’s merit and quality,
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spirituality was sought after while living withinthe material istic world, and intuitiveexperiencing and understanding of theessence of life took over from analyticaland empirical explorations.
The mindset was bubbling with energyto adventure and explore far lands, formulatesophisticated philosophy containing diverseand discrepant schools of thought, createinnovative forms of art, music, and dances,assimilate immigrants and invaders into theover-arching Hindu order, and above all developscience and technology that were far aheadof time and that laid the foundation for theirsubsequent growth elsewhere in the world.
All these achievements were indeedspearheaded by individuals and thoughtleaders, “…but they were essentially thegreat product of the social milieu and thatthey answered - some insistent demand ofthe times (Nehru, 1946/2001, pp. 218-219)”.The enabling milieu can be traced as far asback to the Vedic age, where the rites andrituals, for example, initiated the growth ofmathematics and anatomy. Elaboratecalculations that were necessary to establishthe positions and configurations of the variousobjects in bedi (sacrificial arena) for religioushoma and yajna and animals’ sacrificesresulted into an interest in anatomy (Thapar,1972, p. 45). The period from about 700B.C. to 700 A.D. was the prime time ofHindu civilization. It saw the emergence ofmonarchies and republics that “replacedtraditional-tribal patterns of governance witha system based on rules and regulations”(Cohen, 2001, p. 12) that in turn providedmuch needed stability in the life of people.Craft villages and urban guilds developedinto towns from where trade and commerce
spread to distant lands, f rom theMediterranean to the South East Asia.Voyage over high seas required theknowledge of astronomy. The wealthaccumulated from trade and commerceresulted in the emergence of an affluent non-Brahmin community that did not subscribeto the brahminic worldview. They supportedBuddhism and Jainism. Royal patronage waslavishly available to both Brahmins andBuddhists who now had time and means toengage in prolonged and intense shastrarth(debate) that led to the development of thesix major schools of thought, besides othernew areas of knowledge. They were thecustodian of theoretical knowledge while theguilds imparted sophisticated technologicalknowledge and skills. Mathematics, beinga bridge between the two, developed fastduring the later half of this period (Thapar,1972) leading to the concepts of zero,decimal system, position and values ofnumerals, and letters in algebra for unknownvalues numerical order, and so on
The society was transformed too.Political stability and economic prosperityindeed played a major role. But the Hinduworldview facilitated the emergence of self-sufficient villages with multiple communitieswith the caste based hierarchical structure.Each caste specialized in a particular tradeor craft, had its own dharm (i.e., values,beliefs, norms, and practices), and had anelected leader who consulted the entire groupbefore making major decisions. Immigrants,new comers, or dissidents were not enslaved,but were accommodated wi thin thecommunity by being assigned a sub-castestatus. They were free, like other castes,to function autonomously without conflictingwith other castes.
The Social Engineer 13
It was not, however, an egalitariansociety. The castes were indeed hierarchicallyarranged, higher castes enjoying dispropor-tionately greater privileges at the cost ofthe lower castes. As the time passed thecaste and gender discriminations wereincreasingly petrified to a dreadful extent.Farmers and artisans created wealth, butremained relatively deprived of it. Wealth,instead of being utilized for improving agri-culture and infrastructure, got concentratedin Hindu temples and Buddhist mathas orwas usurped by samants (feudal lords) andkings who lived in lavish style. “TraditionalIndian society… was based on the premiseof inequali ty, and hierarchical valuespermeated every sphere of collective life.The stress on hierarchy was particularlyconspicuous in the legal order of the Hindusociety. … Discrimination, segregation, andexclusion are carried to their outermost limits(Be`teille, 1983, p. 18). However, the peopledrew their sense of unity and culturalsuperiority by developing a common identity–“… a common national bond which wouldhold all these groups together – the senseof a common culture, common traditions,common heroes and saints, and a commonland to the four corners of which peoplewent on pilgrimaging” (Nehru, 1946/2001,p. 251).
Demoralized Mindset
It was this sense of superiority andself-confidence that got increasingly erodedby the Islamic invasions and rules. Therewere invasions and immigrations earlier, butthe intruders were assimilated into the Hindufold and caste nomenclatures. Many of thembecame shaivites, and vaishnavas, and
Buddhists. In some instances their sons orgrandsons appeared with a Sanskrit nameand were crowned according to the traditionalrites meant for kshatriyas” (Nehru, 1946/2001, p. 120). Hindu’s pluralistic worldviewand their sense of superiority eventuallyprevailed upon them.
But the Islamic invasions were differentin nature and consequences. The invaderswere not only attracted by the richesconcentrated in Hindu temples, but weredriven by a missionary zeal to spread Islamthat was fuelled by a different worldview. “…the Muslims were expansionists with atenacity of purpose in total contrast withthe already shrinking, nostalgic, Indianworldview among Hindus of those days; thisconfidence invested even their ruthless andunderhand exploits with an aura ofexhilaration” (Lannoy, 1971/2008, p. 228).
Hindus were subdued and demoralized.They still believed in their cultural superiority,but lost the vigour and vitality as well astheir creative imagination. Instead theyadopted a number of regressive measuresand superstitious beliefs in the hope ofprotecting their women from the evil eyes ofMuslim invaders. According to Alberuni,Hindus believed that “there is no countrybut theirs, no nation like theirs, no king liketheirs, no religion like theirs, no sciencelike theirs…. [however], they are in a stateof utter confusion, … I can only comparetheir mathematical and astrological knowledgeto a mixture of pearls and sour dates, or ofpearls and dung, or of costly crystals andcommon pebbles (Thapar, 1972, p. 239)”.
Gradually, there were accommodationand reconciliation. The converted Muslims,mostly lower castes, retained most of their
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201214
endogamous and caste based rites, rituals,and practices. They were also influencedby the overwhelming majority of Hindus aswell as disillusioned by the discriminationthat they got from the Muslim nobility offoreign extraction. So, both Hindus and IndianMuslims were reconciled to accommodateeach other’s beliefs, values, and preferenceswhile their religious practices remaineddistinctly different particularly in temples andmosques, their pattern of living remainedmore or less the same (Thapar, 1972, p.289).
A hybrid language – Urdu – developedthat played a crucial role not only in definingthe Muslim identity but a ground for sharingcommon thoughts, beliefs, and practices(Moghni, 1987). Similarly, the Hindustaniclassical music developed as a complexand sonorous blend of Vedic notions of ragaand tala, Indian-Muslim invention such assitar, santoor and ghazal, and manyinstruments and concepts of Middle-Easternorigin. Although the Muslim sculptureremained primarily Islamic in nature, therewas much Hindu imagery (e.g. lotus in TajMahal) that found a place in it. The Bhaktimarg (a way of devotion) of Hindus and theSufism also bridged the gap between Hindusand Muslims because of their strikingcommon philosophy and practices. However,the Muslim nobility of foreign origin had adifferent life style of luxury and ostentation,insatiable hunger for sensual pleasure, andthe imperative to show off at the royal court.They were engaged in all sorts of powergame, conspiracy, violence, and dubiousbehaviour (Mayo, 1927/1969, pp. 276-277).
The composite mindset thus containedan amalgam of hierarchical orientation, rigidand regressive adherence to caste basedcode of conduct coexisting with the flexibilityto accommodate other castes andcommunities, and a strong disposition toengage in power game and corrupt practicesin order to acquire and enjoy wealth withoutany limit or scruples.
Colonized MindsetThe British denigrated the Indian
mindset further by instilling an inferioritycomplex that still afflicts many Indians. Atthe time the British started dominating theIndian landscape, the farmers, althoughexploited, were productive and the artisans,although devoid of creative imagination, wereski l ful. They were generating wealthamounting to the second highest GDP inworld. And, “… there was almost nothingthat England could export that the Eastwanted to buy” (Robins, 2006, p. 7), exceptpay in gold and silver for Indian goods,particularly textiles. In the year 1600, Britainhad only 1.80 per cent of the world’s GDPwhile India had 22.54 per cent. By theyear1870, Britain increased its GDP by fivefoldto 9.10 per cent while India lost almost halfof it by getting reduced to 12.25 per cent(Maddison, 2001).
The British destroyed both crafts andagriculture turning farmers and artisans intoa mass of landless labourers, created landednobility that was interested in perpetuatingthe British raj, replaced the indigenoussystems of education to “…to form a classwho may be interpreters between us andthe millions whom we govern, –a class of
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay,_1st_Baron_Macaulay
The Social Engineer 15
persons Indian in blood and colour, but Englishin tastes, in opinions, in morals and inintellect” (Macaulay, 1835)2.
The British had a worldview that Indianswere “new-caught sullen peoples, half-deviland half-child” (Kipling, 1899, p. 371) and,hence to be treated in a way that turnedthe Indian civil servants “… into “pliable”and “plastic” partly from “a servile wish toplease the shahib tongue, and partly froma desire obtain a government appointment”(Carter & Harlow quoted by Nilekani, 2008,p.334). Sir Thomas Munro, Governor ofMadras, wrote to Governor-General LordHastings in 1817, “Foreign conquerors havetreated the natives with violence, and oftenwith great cruelty, but none treated themwith so much scorn as we; none hasstigmatized the whole people as unworthyof trust, as incapable of honesty, and as fitto be employed only where we cannot dowithout them. It seems to be not onlyungenerous, but impolite, to debase thecharacter of a people fallen under ourdominion” (Nehru, 1946/2001, p. 323).
Disparaging observations were also madeby other foreign observers as well as manyIndian scholars characterizing Indians asauthoritarian (Lewis, 1962), narcissistic withweak super ego (Spratt, 1966). That is, theywere believed to be self-loving with weakconscience that leads to “an inner sense ofinstability and insecurity” to the extent that“nothing and nobody can be relied upon, noteven one’s own self” (Carstairs, 1971, p. 54)and callousness towards others especiallythose who were relatively less privileged andless powerful. Indians were believed to belacking self-control in the face of strongemotions (Carstairs, 1971, p. 46). They were
accused of being fatalists depending ondestiny (Weber, 1958), and so on. Some ofthe Indian scholars joined them in denigratingIndians further (e.g., Chaudhury, 1964, pp.106-107). Narain (1957), for example, listedthe following attributes of Indians: (a) Absenceof commitment that at individual levelexpresses in freely made but unfulfilledpromises and absence of sustained effortsfor realizing collective objectives, (b) absenceof masculine qualities as a result of Indians’identification with mother, (c) dependenceon and distrust of authority because ofinconsistent rewards and punishments givenduring childhood, (d), inability to handleemotions that are either suppressed or burstinto uncontrolled temper tantrum, and aboveall (e) contradictory behaviours that manifestin “tremendous gap between ideals andperformance. “Truth is extolled, but all kindsof falsehood are practiced; honesty is valued,but dishonesty is rampant; kindness is virtue,but Indians laugh at others’ physical deformityor discomfiture; …Indians are spiritual, buttheir greed for material things is insatiable”(Narain, 1957: 130). The values and behaviourwhich they frequently attributed to Indians inthe literature included fatalism, passivity,dependency, paranoid reaction, narcissism,insecurity, anx iety, authori tar ianism,submission, indifference to contradictions,and so on (D. Sinha, 1988).
Contemporary Mindset
It took quite sometime to retrieve theprimordial layer to bring it in conjunctionwith the subsequent layers of the Indianmindset. The Independence was the mostcritical landmark, although the efforts wereinitiated much earlier during the colonial days.
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201216
The new infrastructure, Western institutions,and particularly, English language createda ground from which Indian nationalismsprouted in many minds. Chatterjee (1993)observed that anti-colonial nationalismconceded the superiority of Western science,economic affluence, and statecraft but foundthem devoid of spiritual merit (p. 6). Indianmindset, the nationalists felt, had to have ablend of both Western and Indian ethos.
Two factors facilitated this process.National aspiration to catch up with the Westwith the pride of becoming self-reliant ledto establish sound industrial base, centresof higher learning, and democratic institutions.A sense of self-reliance also inspired a numberof social scientists to step out of the colonialmindset and venture to reconstruct the Indianmindset by searching afresh and retrievingthe pieces of the primordial mindset (seedetails in Rao, Paranjpe, & Dalal, 2008).Liberalization of the economy reinforced bothof them. Economic growth transformed thecountry from the land of snake charmers,elephants, and maharajas to a global playerhaving the 12th largest economy having 4rth
position in the purchasing power parity inthe world (World Bank, 2003). The country,which was almost condemned to the ‘Hindurate of growth’3 or the ‘elephant syndrome’(Smith, 2008), recorded the 2nd highest growthrate af ter China. There has been acorresponding surge in Indians’ self -confidence and impulse to seek out newopportunities verging on opportunism.Entrepreneurial spirit of the ancient India(Kumar & Sethi, 2005) seems like gettingresurrected. Industrial activities are booming,
Indian companies are getting global, andsome of them are picking up Westerncompanies larger than their own size. Indians’creative imagination also spills over into avariety of spheres including nuclear andspace research, medical tourism, technicaleducation, arts, music, literature, movies,and so on. The country claims to have thelargest size of skilled personnel in the world,expanding middle-class that is larger thanthe population of many Western countries,even common persons (amadami) aspire tofly high, Diaspora of millions of prosperousand professional Indians across the world,a significant size of IT companies in SiliconValley, and globally sought after thoughtleaders.
There is, however, a third factor - darkerface of the country– that impacts the Indianmindset. They are many: Millions of extremelypoor people, inadequate infrastructure, andpoor healthcare for the majority, high rate ofilliteracy, stinking filth and garbage piling upat many places, unsafe drinking water,inhuman slums, caste conflicts, religiousfanaticism, and a host of other socialpathologies. India is quite low on almost allmajor indicators of the quality of life such ashuman development, t ransparency,governance, gender equality, and so on. Thevast majority of Indians are still struggling tosurvive by coping with their daily hassles.
While Indians retrieve their cultural heritageand acquire the Western capitalist worldview,they also experience this debilitating milieu.They have “no qualms in borrowing from theWest… while continuing to be unmistakablyIndian” (Varma, 2004, p. 149). “When Indians
3 http://wapedia.mobi/en/Hindu_rate_of_growth on May 28 , 2010.
The Social Engineer 17
learn, quite expertly, modern science,business, or technology, they ‘compart-mentalize’ these interests… the new waysof thought and behaviour do not replace, butlive along with the old ‘religious’ ways(Ramanujan, 1989, p. 57).” Indian managers,like the managers in the West, were foundto espouse the W estern values ofachievement, advancement, and abilityutilization (Kumar, 1994; Srinivas, 1994).Many of them were “… individualistic,outwardly oriented, educated, emotionallybalanced, self-confident, self-actualized, andmaterialistic” (Braasch, 1998, p. 116) inseeking indiv idual ambitions andachievements.
Indian mindset is a paradoxical mixtureof the modern and traditional (Shah & Rao,1965; Shils, 1961) where “Tradition andtechnology sleep in the same bed (Varma,2004, p. 142). Inconsistent and contradictorybeliefs, values, norms, and practices thatnot only the different sets of Indians hold,but the same Indians posses them withoutany discomfort or dissonance (Bharati, 1985).Roland (2005) found that “There is muchmore of an ability [of Indians] to live withinconsistency and dissonance than tendsto be characteristic of most Westerners”.Gunter Grass (1999), for example, wasshocked by “the insensitivity of its middleclass” to “so much poverty and misery, somuch suffering (p. 2)” that they see justnext door to them. And yet, the poor andthe deprived keep on struggling to survive,hoping to get better and affluent. “The Indianmind… tends to convert even the slightestray of hope into a blaze of light (Kakar &Kakar, 2009, p. 183).
How Does the Mindset Work?How does a mindset consisting of diverse
and discrepant components put its acttogether? There certainly exists a great dealof freedom to select from the rich repertoire,but the freedom also entails confusion of theplenty to set the priorities in light of variousconstraints and contradictory considerations.Some of the ways the Indian mindset worksare the following.
Mental BlocksAn oft found resort, virtually by default,
is to run into a mental jam manifesting inindecisiveness, or delayed and deferreddecisions and actions. Indians in manysituations cannot figure out what they shoulddo either under the dilemma of which wayto go, which pressure to yield to, or how toorganize their thoughts, feelings, and actionsbecause the situation appears to be toouncertain, highly risky, or fast changing. Oncea decision is made, competing ideas furthercause hesitation, weak impulse to implement,or back out halfway (Kumar, 2004). A safestrategy in many cases is to wait and letthe dust settle down, and the alternativesso arrange themselves that the person doesnot have to strain his mind to make a choice,mostly by way of damage control.
RelativismAnother way is to let the relevance
and salience of an alternative dictate thecourse of action. There is nothing in theIndian mindset that has an absolute valueor pan-situational relevance. It all dependson a person’s temperament (gunas), gender,stages in life, caste, and situationalimperatives. The ideals or pragmatics for
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201218
some in one situation are not necessarilythe ideals or pragmatics for others inanother situation. The truth, according toJainism, is relative to our standpoints (Nehru,1946/2001, p. 119) and “…evil and goodare relative terms. What is good undercertain conditions can become an evil orsin, under a different set of conditions….At every step, [one] has to use hisdiscrimination, as to what is ahinsa [non-violence] and what is himsa [ violence]”(Mahatma Gandhi cited by Tendulkar, 1953,pp. 152-153). Another example, dharma(religion) was shown to have four variants.Sanatan (eternal) dharma was for overallguidance across time and situations ingeneral. Jati (caste) dharma was morespecific and demanding and different forpersons of different castes. Swa (I or mine)dharma, on the other hand, depended onone’s temperament and role. Finally, therewas the apatkal (crisis) dharma, whichsignified that a person should set aside allother dharmas and do what is required tosurvive in a crisis. Such relativity allowspeople to juggle with ideas and actions byrationalizing what they prefer or perform.In most cases, idealism was what peopleespoused and aspired to realize andpragmatism was what they had to livewith or what they thought was in theirbest interest.
Context SensitivityRelativity also requires sensitivity to
situational cues. Indians are highly sensitiveto their contexts (Rolland, 1988; Sinha &Kanungo, 1997). Unlike people in the Westwho apply abstract principles and generalizednorms to decide how to behave in different
situations, Indians organize their thoughts,feelings, and behaviours in order to meetspecific contextual demands. Contexts havethree dimensions of desha (place), kala(time), and patra (person), each having anenabling or debilitating potentials. Indiansbehave differently with different persons (e.g.,apane versus paraye, of high versus lowstatus, useful versus useless) and at differentplaces (e.g., family versus market, personali-zed versus impersonal organizations).
Shifting MindsetContext sensitivity in turn induces
Indians to shift their position with referenceto people and situations, should people orsituation change. Indians construe a situationand the response to it as an episode inan ongoing flow of interactive events ofsituations and responses to them in along time perspective. Both– situations andresponses to them– are examined in termsof their potential to serve their own interests,the interest of the relevant others, and thesalience of social norms at different timepoints. This holistic view enables Indiansto fashion a strategy to choose divergenttactics with reference to different peopleat different places, and with the samepeople and places, but at different timepoints.
Thus, Indians can organize theirthoughts and fashion tactics in a sequence,which may not be consistent to each other,but each of them builds upon and balancesthe previous one, and thereby helpsthem advance towards the ultimate goal(Sinha, in press). The essence of the Indianmindset lies is this shifting of thoughtsand behaviours.
The Social Engineer 19
SummaryThe Indian mindset consists of Indians’
self-image and the worldview that orientthem to react to their immediate milieu inspecific ways. The milieu is the experiencedpart of the culture that has been shapingand is being interpreted by the mindset forover the last four thousand years. Indianculture is known for the continuity of pluralistictraditions that have resulted in the diverseand discrepant beliefs, values, norms, andpractices in the mindset. In the primordialmindset religiosity coexisted with secularism,cosmic collectivism allowed individualisticstriving to achieve life goals, hierarchicalsocial order recognized individual’s meritand quality, spirituality was sought afterwhile living within the materialistic world,and intuitive experiencing and understandingof the reality was pursued when analyticaland empirical explorations reached theirlimit. Islamic influences added rigid andregressive adherence to caste based codeof conduct coexisting with the flexibility toaccommodate other castes and communities,and a strong disposition to engage in powergame and corrupt practices in order toacquire and enjoy wealth without any limitor scruples. Colonial experiences causedself-abnegation and inferiority complexwhereby any attempt to think and act positiveway construed to be hypocritical. TheIndependence and particularly liberalization,has accelerated economic growth, revivedoptimism, and instigated opportunism thatcontrast with traditional cultural facets ofthe mindset and the debilitating conditionsof living. Indians, as a result, either getbogged down to indecisiveness or inaction,do what the social roles conventionallysuggest, and respond to situational demands,or flexibly keep shifting and balancing betweenthem to serve their purpose best.
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Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201222
EDUCATED UNEMPLOYEDYOUNG MEN IN INDIA :
Their Approach to Time Management
Lal Bahadur Singh*Meera Kumari**Nisha Singh***
AbstractA randomly selected group of 400 educated young men equally divided into :(1) professionally educated unemployed, (2) non-professionally educated unemployed,(3) professionally educated employed, and (4) non-professionally educated employedwere compared in terms of the degree of purposive and structured distribution oftime for their different day-long business measured by a 10-item Time ManagementBehaviour Scale (Rani, 1993). Both the groups of unemployed, especially the non-professionally educated unemployed, as compared to their employed counterparts,were found to be significantly more involved in unproductive and less purposiveactivities like sleeping and lazing, idling and gossiping, politicking, personal careand health, hobbies and pastimes, etc., albeit they, more so the professionallyeducated unemployed, showed a somewhat clear evidence of their involvement insome of the prospective activities like academic pursuits and earning. Also, thegroups of the unemployed did not manifest any harmony in the distribution of theirtime for the day-long business in three different periods — present, past and future,showing lesser structuring in the use of their time. However, the story of employedyoung men was somewhat different in this regard. Both the groups of the employedwere more purposive but, like their unemployed counterparts, less structured in theuse of their time.
IntroductionInvestigators from the West have shown a continuing interest in how unemployed people
use their time. Jahoda’s (1982, 1988) view merits a mention here. According to her thesudden onset of unemployment destroys a person’s habitual time structure for the wakingday, undermines his/her sense of purpose in life, reduces his/her social contacts, results inhis/her loss of status and identity, and removes the regular activities that were part of his/
* University Professor of Psychology TM Bhagalpur University Bhagalpur-812 007** Lecturer Dept. of Education Godda College, Godda- 814 133, S. K. M. University, Dumka*** M.B.A. ICFAI Business School University of Dehradun
The Social Engineer 23
her daily life. Findings are, to an extent,consistent in this regard indicating that themajority of the unemployed, compared tothose in job, have difficulty in organizing theirtime, and they structure their time byengaging themselves in different futile andunproductive activities (Elchardus & Glorieux,1995; Winefield, Tiggemann & Winefield,1992). A number of other studies have alsoshown the unemployed people as significantlyless structured and purposive in the use oftheir time (Sokou & Papantoniou, 2000; Warr,1987; Winefield, 1995). In different Indianstudies (Rani, 1993; Sinha & Mallick, 1990)too, the unemployed have been found to besignificantly less structured in the use of theirtime with a distinct measure of involvementin various futile and less purposive activitieslike sleeping and lazing, idling and gossiping,personal care and health, politicking, hobbiesand pastimes, etc. However, the studies donot fully deny their involvement in some ofthe prospective activities like academic andoccupation-oriented activities. Singh, Singh& Singh (1995) have also given a similardescription of the time management behaviourof the unemployed.
Thus, in all, the unemployed people arefairly less structured and purposive in theuse of their time. However, in contrast withthe aforementioned findings, Schaufeli (1988)has recorded that professionally educatedunemployed people have opportunities forengaging themselves in unpaid work withoutpenalty, enabling them to use their skills andto develop some purpose and meaning intheir life. But, the lone finding cannot be safelygeneralized, particularly in a developingcountry like India where people, in general,manifest certain singular characteristics whichaffect their behaviour pattern as well (Lapierre,
1986; Singh, Singh & Singh, 1996; Sinha,1988). They thus react differently even toproblems like poverty and unemployment(Singh, Singh & Singh, 1996; Singh, Singh& Singh, 1995) depleting the verve and vitalityof the whole nation — the fact quite incorrespondence with the conviction with farreaching effects as expressed by Oscar Lewis(1966) in his theory of “Culture of Poverty”.Thus, quite expectedly, the gestures likeinvolvement in less structured and aimlessactivities (viz., gossiping, making tall talks,aaram (ease), loafing, engaging in unhealthylocal and parochial politics, etc.) of theunemployed people in India are but the naturalmanifestation of their basic personalitystructure. Further, the unemployed in India,as can be generally seen, have a lot of idletime mainly because of their prevalent non-work culture as well as general tendencywhich views the unemployed as incompetentin carrying the burden of jobs which requiresgreater sense of responsibility, perseveranceand industriousness. In addition, lack offacilities for adequate recreation and of supportfor engagement in useful as well aspurposeful activities other than gainfulemployment in public and private undertakingsleave them unused and uncared for.
The story of the employed, however,is also not very impressive. On account oftypical characteristics like lack of seriousnesstowards assignments, easy-going tempera-ment and ease-loving tendency together withinconducive work culture (Kanungo, 1995;Singh, Singh & Rani, 1996a,b), employedpeople can also be seen to have restrictedscope for engaging themselves in variouspurposeful activities. As such, they can alsobe seen to be engaged in different non-productive activities like gossiping, loafing,
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201224
politicking, flattering their immediate bossesor conspiring to belittle them, etc. (Kanungo,1995; Sinha & Sinha, 1995). Evidently bothintra- and inter-group cultural variations, asheld by Feather (1990), deserve considerationfor a comprehensive understanding of theimpact of the status of employment onpsychological well-being. But surprisingly, littleattention has so far been paid to this subject,especial ly while analysing the t imemanagement behaviour of the employed asagainst unemployed people. This emphasizesthe need to further explore the issue inquestion by employing a positivistic as wellas a culture-specific approach. Hence thepresent investigation, primarily designed toverify the hypothesis that both the groups ofunemployed and employed people would beless purposive and structured in the use oftheir time for different day-to-day activities.However, this tendency would be markedlymore pronounced with the former.
Method
l Sample
A group of 400 educated young men,selected randomly by employing theprocedure of sampling with replacement,participated as respondents in this study.They were equally div ided into:(1) professionally educated unemployed,(2) non-professionally educated unemployed,(3) professionally educated employed, and(4) non-professionally educated employed.The professionally educated group subsumedespecially the graduates and postgraduatesin engineering, medical sciences, agricultureand management which are generallyperceived as gainful and prestigious careersin India. The non-professionally educatedgroup consisted of similar degree-holders in
the humanities, social sciences, commerce,etc. All of them were between 27 and 32years of age, and came from urban middle-class families with an earning of Rs. 15,000to Rs. 25,000 per month. They had eitherbeen registered as involuntarily unemployedor employed in the state public enterpriseslocated in cities like Patna, Muzaffarpur,Bhagalpur, Ranchi and Dhanbad districts inBihar and Jharkhand — the eastern Indianstates — for a period varying from one tothree years.
l Measures
A 10-item Time Management BehaviourScale developed by Rani (1993) in Hindi wasused to assess the distribution of a day-longperiod by the respondents for their variousactivities in terms of the extent of itsstructuring and purposiveness. The scaleconsisted of a list of different daily activities,some of them represented purposive activi-ties, while the others futile and unproductiveones. The respondents were asked toconcentrate on each of the activities, and topresent an elaborate account of thedistribution of their day-long period spreadover three different time periods– present(“How much time you spare for your differentdaily activities”), past (“How did you adjust aday-long period for those of your activities”),and future (“How will you distribute a day-long period for your daily activities in days tocome”). Deviation in the allocation of time forone’s daily business in three different timeperiods, unlike the procedures as commonlyadopted in other frequently used measuresof time-management behaviour, served asan index of structuring in the distribution oftime with greater deviation denoting lesserstruc-turing in the use of one’s time and viceversa.
The Social Engineer 25
l Procedure
The scale was administrated to therespondents mostly in individual setting inthe mid of 2010. Before expressing theirresponses, they were asked to respond toeach item, and to provide answers in theshortest possible time. The answers were tobe based on a careful estimation of timespared by them for each of the particularactiv ities appearing in their day-to-daybusiness.
l ResultsTable 1 summarizes the results of a
statistical comparison among different groupsof educated unemployed and employedyoung men in terms of the amount of thedistribution of a day-long period (calculatedin minutes) in present, past and future fortheir various daily chores.
All the groups of educated unemployedand employed people tended to differ largelyamong themselves in terms of the amount oftime allocated for all their different day-longbusiness (F-values ranged between 193.64and 38849.94; df=11,1188; p<0.01). Further,both the groups of unemployed, especiallythe non-professionally educated unemployed,were found to spend more of their time inunproductive and less purposive activities likesleeping and lazing, idling and gossiping,politicking, personal care and health, andhobbies and pastimes, albeit they, more sothe professionally educated unemployed,showed a somewhat clear evidence of theirinvolvement in some of the prospectiveactivities like those related to academicpursuits and earning. However, the story ofemployed young men was different on thescale of the purposive use of their day-longperiod for their different activities. They were
found to devote much of their time for activitiesrelated to earning, sharing famil ialresponsibilities and in its chores, hobbiesand pastimes, social obligation, personal careand health, and academic pursuits. They werenot extravagant in spending their time forsleeping and lazing, they only consumed thetime (5.31 hrs. to 5.70 hrs.) for the activitynormally needed for a healthy individual. Thus,in all, they did not spend much of their timefor the activities considered to be unproductiveand futile ones.
Table 2 presents a comparative accountof the distribution of time by different groupsof unemployed and employed young men fortheir day-long business for three differentperiods — present, past and future — withthe sole aim to determine the extent ofstructuring in the use of their time.
Both the groups of professionally andnon-professionally educated unemployed didnot manifest any harmony in the distributionof their time for their day-long activities inthree different periods — present, past andfuture, showing thus lesser structuring in theuse of their time. However, the story ofemployed young men was also not fardifferent in this regard. They, too, were lessstructured in the use of their time, thoughsparsely less than their unemployedcounterparts.
DiscussionThe results, in brief, indicated that both
the groups of unemployed, especially the non-professionally educated ones, as comparedto their employed counterparts, were lesspurposive and structured in the use of theirtime for their different daily activities. Althoughthe record of the latter was also not muchimpressive; they were less structured, but
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201226
Table 1Statistical Di fferences among Different Groups of Educated Unemployed and Employed
Young Men in Terms of the Amount of Distribution of Time for their Daily Activities forDi fferent Time Periods (Present, Past and Future)
Unemployed Employed
Professionally Non-Professionally Professionally Non-ProfessionallyEducated Educated Educated Educated(N=100) (N=100) (N=100) (N=100)
Details Present Past Future Present Past Future Present Past Future Present Past Futureof Daily Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean MeanActivities (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) (SD) F
1. Personal 115.56 105.24 100.75 118.08 111.81 99.88 87.41 86.27 100.44 104.66 95.07 109.86Care andHealth (5.32) (6.69) (5.52) (7.43) (7.67) (5.26) (4.16) (4.55) (6.09) (6.78) (2.38 (8.04) 281.07
2. Religious 19.35 27.63 28.16 25.70 21.50 34.10 16.10 23.46 29.40 26.70 24.80 32.80Observ -ance (4.65) (3.39) (4.00) (4.54) (2.46) (4.32) (3.64) (1.96) (3.82) (3.15) (4.53) (3.62) 193.64
3. Academic 192.50 187.00 199.56 170.50 161.18 176.80 103.20 105.85 96.10 85.30 87.00 81.00Pursuits (8.48) (9.85) (6.54) (7.26) (6.08) (6.13) (4.24) (4.26) (4.41) (7.84) (4.02) (3.15) 5629.21
4. To Look 65.80 60.82 93.33 74.89 67.95 83.05 132.85 134.55 137.00 151.05 147.45 157.33afterFami ly &Sharing (4.57) (3.04) (5.66) (5.19) (4.61) (4.01) (10.74) (7.62) (5.08) (5.38) (4.05) (5.61) 4212.85in itsChores
5. Idling and 176.00 181.00 165.31 191.00 186.51 143.00 26.50 27.00 23.50 35.10 32.37 37.00Gossiping (4.92) (8.65) (6.71) (8.13) (3.71) (6.82) (4.52) (4.61) (3.22) (3.47) (3.84) (5.12) 18455.60
6. Hobbies 99.95 106.40 94.06 112.99 127.39 95.64 117.06 110.88 113.09 106.33 104.39 95.05andPastimes (7.09) (7.12) (4.67) (3.83) (5.30) (6.64) (4.11) (8.81) (5.28) (4.73) (4.06) (3.19) 315.39
7. To 38.50 54.21 48.00 41.00 44.33 38.00 105.20 102.96 92.11 113.60 107.00 119.50dischargeSocialObligation (6.39) (6.86) (3.08) (5.69) (4.54) (5.14) (5.61) (4.32) (2.72) (4.03) (4.47) (3.60) 4785.60
8. Earning 97.00 91.62 127.30 27.50 24.43 97.50 491.80 491.58 480.91 454.10 466.39 440.70(12.53) (8.69) (8.58) (3.37) (2.84) (6.75) (19.04) (17.53) (8.56) (11.41) (8.03) (5.05) 38849.94
9. Sleeping 500.18 495.76 487.00 540.40 548.43 574.10 324.10 318.39 342.04 326.30 330.88 337.70andLazing (11.43) (9.98) (6.71) (9.22) (8.26) (13.44) (5.75) (5.54) (4.20) (6.96) (8.74) (6.21) 15313.33
10 Politicking 135.16 130.32 96.53 137.94 146.47 97.93 35.78 39.06 25.41 44.00 44.65 38.00(4.40) (5.27) (4.77) (3.79) (4.42) (5.22) (3.89) (4.43) (2.14) (5.34) (4.06) (4.33) 11578.15
Note. df=11,1188; p<0.05=1.79; p<0.01=2.24.
The Social Engineer 27
Con
td...
...
Tabl
e 2
Ext
ent
pf s
truct
urin
g in
the
Dis
tribu
tion
of T
ime
by D
iffer
ent
Gro
ups
of E
duca
ted
Une
mpl
oyed
and
Em
ploy
edYo
ung
Men
for
the
ir D
aily
Act
iviti
es f
or D
iffer
ent
Tim
e P
erio
ds (
Pre
sent
, P
ast
and
Futu
re)
Unem
ploye
dEm
ploye
dPr
ofess
ionall
yNo
n-Pr
ofess
ionall
yPr
ofess
ionall
yNo
n-Pr
ofess
ionall
yEd
ucate
dEd
ucate
dEd
ucate
dEd
ucate
d(N
= 1
00)
(N =
100
)(N
= 1
00)
(N =
100
)
Pres
ent
Past
Futur
ePr
esen
tPa
stFu
ture
Pres
ent
Past
Futur
ePr
esen
tPa
stFu
ture
Deta
ils o
f Dail
yMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anAc
tivitie
s(S
D)(S
D)(S
D)F
(SD)
(SD)
(SD)
F(S
D)(S
D)(S
D)F
(SD)
(SD)
(SD)
F
1.Pe
rson
al C
are
115.5
610
5.24
100.7
511
8.08
111.8
199
.8887
.4186
.2710
0.44
104.6
695
.0710
9.86
and
Heal
th
(5.32
)(6.
69)
(5.52
)16
7.20
(7.43
)(7.
67)
(5.26
)18
0.96
(4.16
)(4.
55)
(6.09
)(24
7.66
(6.78
)(2.
38(8.
04)
145.2
2.Re
ligiou
s19
.3527
.6328
.1625
.7021
.5034
.1016
.1023
.4629
.4026
.7024
.8032
.80Ob
serv
ance
(4.65
)(3.
39)
(4.00
)14
8.94
(4.54
)(2.
46)
(4.32
)27
2.44
(3.64
)(1.
96)
(3.82
)42
0.70
(3.15
)(4.
53)
(3.62
)12
0.3
3.Ac
adem
ic19
2.50
187.0
019
9.56
170.5
016
1.18
176.8
010
3.20
105.8
596
.1085
.3087
.0081
.00Pu
rsui
ts
(8.48
)(9.
85)
(6.54
)58
.16(7.
26)
(6.08
)(6.
13)
145.5
2(4.
24)
(4.26
)(4.
41)
137.1
5(7.
84)
(4.02
)(3.
15)
32.79
4.To
Loo
k af
ter
65.80
60.82
93.33
74.89
67.95
83.05
132.8
513
4.55
137.0
015
1.05
147.4
515
7.33
Fam
ily a
nd
Shar
ing
in(4.
57)
(3.04
)(5.
66)
1479
.96(5.
19)
(4.61
)(4.
01)
266.4
6(10
.74)
(7.62
)(5.
08)
6.56
(5.38
)(4.
05)
(5.61
)97
.61its
Cho
res
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201228
Pres
ent
Past
Futur
ePr
esen
tPa
stFu
ture
Pres
ent
Past
Futur
ePr
esen
tPa
stFu
ture
Deta
ils o
f Dail
yMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anMe
anAc
tivitie
s(S
D)(S
D)(S
D)F
(SD)
(SD)
(SD)
F(S
D)(S
D)(S
D)F
(SD)
(SD)
(SD)
F
5.Id
ling
and
176.0
018
1.00
165.3
119
1.00
186.5
114
3.00
26.50
27.00
23.50
35.10
32.37
37.00
Goss
ipin
g
(4.92
)(8.
65)
(6.71
)13
3.81
(8.13
)(3.
71)
(6.82
)16
69.64
(4.52
)(4.
61)
(3.22
)20
.67(3.
47)
(3.84
)(5.
12)
30.64
6.Ho
bbie
s an
d99
.9510
6.40
94.06
112.9
912
7.39
95.64
117.0
611
0.88
113.0
910
6.33
104.3
995
.05Pa
stim
es
(7.09
)(7.
12)
(4.67
)93
.06(3.
83)
(5.30
)(6.
64)
872.8
6(4.
11)
(8.81
)(5.
28)
24.05
(4.73
)(4.
06)
(3.19
)22
2.5
7.To
disc
harg
e38
.5054
.2148
.0041
.0044
.3338
.0010
5.20
102.9
692
.1111
3.60
107.0
011
9.50
Socia
l
Oblig
ation
(6.39
)(6.
86)
(3.08
)19
2.76
(5.69
)(4.
54)
(5.14
)37
.90(5.
61)
(4.32
)(2.
72)
255.4
1(4.
03)
(4.47
)(3.
60)
238.5
8.Ea
rning
97.00
91.62
127.3
027
.5024
.4397
.5049
1.80
491.5
848
0.91
454.1
046
6.39
440.7
0
(12.53
)(8.
69)
(8.58
)36
2.83
(3.37
)(2.
84)
(6.75
)78
89.08
(19.04
)(17
.53)
(8.56
)15
.64(11
.41)
(8.03
)(5.
05)
224.9
9.Sl
eepi
ng a
nd50
0.18
495.7
648
7.00
540.4
054
8.43
574.1
032
4.10
318.3
934
2.04
326.3
033
0.88
337.7
0La
zing
(11.43
)(9.
98)
(6.71
)49
.05(9.
22)
(8.26
)(13
.44)
278.3
5(5.
75)
(5.54
)(4.
20)
561.5
6(6.
96)
(8.74
)(6.
21)
60.39
10.
Politi
ckin
g13
5.16
130.3
296
.5313
7.94
146.4
797
.9335
.7839
.0625
.4144
.0044
.6538
.00
(4.40
)(5.
27)
(4.77
)19
01.5
(3.79
)(4.
42)
(5.22
)32
94.27
(3.89
)(4.
43)
(2.14
)38
6.73
(5.34
)(4.
06)
(4.33
)63
.24
Note
. df=
2.29
7; p
<0.0
5=3.
03; p
<0.0
1=4.
68.
Tabl
e 2
Con
td...
...
The Social Engineer 29
more purposive by all means in the use oftheir time.
The findings, indicating both the groupsof unemployed as relatively less purposiveand structured in the distribution of their timefor their day-long business, may reasonablybe described in the light of the assertions inthe vitamin model proposed by Warr (1987).The model predicts that in a state ofunemployment fewer demands are made,objectives are reduced, and purposeful activityis barely encouraged by the environment.Routines and cycles of behaviour are lessoften set in motion, and opportunities for‘traction’ and ‘flow’ may be limited. The modelfurther stresses that there is apparently alack of demands under the condition ofunemployment, producing an excess of time,and removing the need to choose betweenactivities or to allocate fixed period of time toindividual tasks. A general reduction in thosedemands that are linked to particular points(such as meal time or the start of a workingday) may lead to the end of temporaldifferentiation. Apparently, time-markers which,as the model holds, break up the day orweek and indicate one’s position in it as nolonger frequent or urgent. No doubt, the onsetof unemployment, as Johada (1982, 1988)maintains, breaks down a person’s habitualtime-structure for the waking day, undermineshis/her sense of purpose in life, reduces his/her social contacts, and takes off his/herregular activities that took place in his/herdaily life. To be precise, the unemployed aredeprived of different latent and manifestbenefits of employment. This leads to thedisintegration of the entire life of those whoexperience it (Kieselbach, Beelmann &Stitzel, 2000; Singh, 2006), driving them intoa state of indecision and a fix which morelikely come in their way while organizing theirday-long business in a structured and
purposive manner. It would also be not out ofcontext to mention here that the unemployedhave not to follow different job-relatedrequirements which the employed people haveto fulfill in their daily routine, largely wellorganized and purposive with a clear emphasison the achievement of goals. Needless tosay, the unemployed have a lot of time intheir hands and have less activities to perform.In such a situation inertia and idleness arevery likely to crop up rapidly, making one’sbehaviour and action without any anchor; onehas to undergo the bouts of disorganizationand futility in every walk of life; plan of action,virtually, ceases to work smoothly.
The theory of ‘culture of poverty’propounded by Lewis (1966) may also provideanother plausible ground to deal with thefindings. The theory has attempted togeneralize that people confronting prolongedpoverty tend to develop a culture typical inits characteristics and behaviour pattern. Theygenerally lead a life which is not well-orderedand systemat ic. Fatal ism has muchimportance in their life, making them leastconcerned with the consequences of theiractions. To their mind, everything is governedby a force, unseen and away from mundanereality and thought — virtually mystic andhard to analyze through customary ways. Inaddition, they considerably lack sincerity andinvolvement towards any assignment, andoften express a tendency to take evenserious issues in a lighter vein (Lapierre,1986). Significantly, poverty and unemploy-ment, it has been shown (Jahoda, 1988;Mruck & Mey, 1992), are well connected witheach other. Thus, it may reasonably beaccepted that the unemployed would havesimilar life philosophy as the people,confronting the bane of poverty, nurture.Interestingly, the life and behaviour pattern ofthe unemployed, as it has been warranted
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201230
(Singh, Singh & Singh, 1995, 1995; Winefield,1995), are also not well-ordered andmeaningful, the element of futility anddisorganization very much prevails in theiraction. They, too, are externally oriented andseldom consider themselves responsible fortheir own deeds (Singh, Singh & Singh, 1996;Singh, Singh & Singh, 1995). In addition,they are apathetic and less involved, and areusually deficient in their alacrity to go withtheir commitments (Kieselbach, Beelmann &Stitzel, 2000; Winefield, 1995). To conclude,the unemployed, like those of the peoplefacing abject poverty, are quite typical in theirbehaviour pattern. This more likely makesthem less resolute and prompt to properplanning and management of their actions.
Rampant non-work culture as well asgeneral tendency to consider the unemployedas incompetent and indolent to withstand theburden of jobs requiring, greater sense ofresponsibi l i ty, persistence andindustriousness also leave the unemployedin India largely unused. This is but a prodigalwaste of time for them with a lot to spare butlittle to perform. In such a situation, laxity isnatural to follow the action, more likelymaking an individual less involved and sinceretowards any assignment, lack of structuringand purposiveness throughout the behaviourare bound to prevail there.
However, all the groups of unemployedand employed people almost exhibited a fairamount of congruence among themselves inthe distribution of their time for different dailyactivities of being relatively less structuredand purposive, though this was not exactlyso in the case of the latter who were sparselyless futile and unstructured in the use oftheir time. The findings, indeed, deservespecial consideration. Time, in Indianperspective, as Kanungo (1995) holds, is
general ly considered in an abstractphilosophical perspective as being external,i.e., ever-present but never passing. This iswhy, delays in action or slowness at work,according to him, are easily tolerated asnormal. Deadlines, time targets, punctuality,etc., have hardly any significance in the eyesof Indians. They are very much used to takingin their stride, the familiar, ‘foot-dragging’bureaucratic response: action/decision will betaken in ‘due course’ of time. It also deservesmention here that Indians, in general, eventoday live physically in the present, butpsychologically in the past, and are largelyunconcerned about the future, despite a wideexperience with the people of many adeveloped nation, well versed in the art ofbetter use of their time. And it is notunreasonable to accept that emphasis on thepast and a lack of futuristic orientation morelikely do not help develop a systematicapproach to life; life becomes aimless anddisorganized and goes increasingly astray,abetting one to follow the muddy track ofmismanagement of one’s time, far from thespirit of meaningfulness as well as properplanning and structuring.
The findings may further be elucidatedparticularly in the light of the ideas typical ofIndian thought and culture which conceiveeverything as preordained and men mere toolsin the hands of unforeseen power– theParama Brahma. Interestingly, unlike in thewest, mystic realities and thoughts, despitea considerable impact of well-founded sensiblescientific innovations and developments, stillhave much larger influence on the psycheand behaviour pattern of the majority of Indians(Kanungo, 1995; Sinha, 1988). Further,passivity is the hall-mark of their characteraccentuated by lack of work-culture in thecountry. This considerably encourages them
The Social Engineer 31
to act with a less serious and indifferentattitude towards any assign-ment (Ganesh,1982). Indeed, the Indians, in general, as ithas been maintained (Kapp, 1963), can beseen to flow with ‘Kya fark parta hai’ (whatdifference does it make!) attitude in everywalk of their life. As such, they generally sailtheir life without much mental preparednessand proper planning. They accept life as itcomes to them without showing muchconcern about change in its course. And thisalso, more likely, make them less responsiveto undergo any strain in their management oftime and their time management behaviourthat is blissfully little anchored. Verily, theIndians have a typical frame of mindembedded with deep religious sentiments tooinextricably interblended to foster amenableand serious attitude towards life.
ConclusionTime in India, in contrast to the West,
is generally considered to be ‘ever-presentbut never passing’, expectedly making thetime management behaviour of its people aslittle anchored. However, on account offrequent exchange of ideas on differentaspects of life and consequent assimilationof thought and behaviour pattern with thepeople in west, people, though not themasses have become very much concernedabout the importance of time in maintainingthe momentum of progress and prosperity inlife. But, the reality has not yet beenempirically examined by involving unemployedversus employed people in India. The findingsof this study may thus prove an interestingrevelation as to the budgeting of time by theprofessionally and non-professionallyeducated unemployed young men vis-à-vistheir employed counterparts in India. However,there are different types of unemployed and
employed people divided among them onvarious socio-economic and ethno-religiousbackground. They differ considerably in theirpsyche and behaviour pattern. Further, thestudy was cross-sectional in its approach,very much limiting the scope of causalinterpretation of its findings. Thus, for widerapplicability by allowing a considerable scopefor causal interpretation, there is a clear needfor well-planned longitudinal study involvingunemployed and employed people divided interms of their various socio-economic andethno-religious backgrounds.
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The Social Engineer 33
Preventing Accidents throughBehavior Based Safety
H L Kaila*
Abstract
This paper includes an original organizational cases and field observationsprepared during Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) training interventions in a periodof fifteen years between 1997 and 2011 across multi-national organizations (suchas petroleum, engineering, automobile cement, power, chemical, pharmaceuticaletc.) as a part of an on-going national action research survey of behavior basedsafety (BBS) in India including 1751 executives and 713 workers in 64 organizations.During BBS training interventions, the trained participants used a checklist ofcritical unsafe / safe behaviours to collect observation data from their respectiveworkplaces with the help of behaviour observation and feedback process (BOFP)which is based on cognitive behavior modification approach. It is assumed thatthe information gathered from this longitudinal nature of the research and therobust sample size shall be considerably useful for human resource / safetyprofessionals while they would be implementing the concept and process of BBSfor reduction of accidents and promoting safe behaviors for developing injury-freeculture in their organizations. The findings of this survey would hopefully enrichthe theoretical and pragmatic foundations of behavioral safety approach.
IntroductionBehaviour Based Safety (BBS) is all about involving people across departments in an
organization as a bottom-up approach. Research and experience1-18 indicate that the 90%or more of the accidents are due to unsafe human acts or behaviors; 50% of the unsafebehaviors are identified or noticeable at any plant at any given point of time; 25-30% ofsafety awareness is lacking among employees which gets reflected in their unsafe behaviors;Unsafe behaviors are at the core of any near misses, injury, accidents. If we control unsafebehaviors, we may not even have near misses. In BBS, workers are involved as well asaccountable for safety in the organization.
Unsafe behaviors are at the core of any near misses, injury, fatalities (figure 1). If wecontrol unsafe behaviors, we may not even have near misses). “Safety should be there inthe behaviour of human beings which is lacking”– The Unit Head said.
* Prof. H L Kaila, Prof & Head, Dept. of Psychology, S.N.D.T. Women’s University,Mumbai 400 020, India.E-mail: [email protected]
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201234
It is empirical ly established thatintervening unsafe behaviours will reducefatali ty using this BBS triangle. Theorganizations need to target zero unsafebehaviour in order to achieve zero accidentsor injuries. The critical safe/unsafe behaviorcategories to maintain safety at workplaceare: 1. Use of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) by workmen e.g. eye glasses, hearingprotection, gloves, hard hat; 2. Work areamaintained appropriately, e.g. trash and scrappicked up, no spills, walkways unobstructed,materials and tools organized; 3. Usingcorrect tools for the job, using tools properly,and tool in good condition; 4. Positioning /protecting body parts, e.g. avoiding line offire, avoiding pinch points; 5. Material handlinge.g. body mechanics while lifting, pushingand pulling, use of assist devices; 6. Verbaland non-verbal interactions that affects safety;7. Following safety procedures e.g. obtaining,complying with permits, following SafeOperating Procedures, lockout, tag-outprocedures; and 8. Visual focusing(attentiveness).
To reduce accidents, the managementshave taken safety interventions such as riskassessment, suggestion scheme, training,
safety committee, auditing, motivationalprogrammes (quiz, award, incentives), SOPs,plant inspection, work permit system etc.Most of these safety management systemshave aimed at controlling unsafe conditions,whereas 80-95% of accidents are triggeredby unsafe acts or behaviors.
Method
The research question / the mainobjective of this national action survey andthis longitudinal nature of the research isto gather information which shall beconsiderably useful for human resource /safety professionals while they would beimplementing the concept and process ofBehavior Based Safety for reduction ofaccidents and promoting safe behaviors fordeveloping injury-free culture in theirorganizations.
Table 1
Number of Trainees of DifferentOrganizations Coming to Intervention
Program is:
No. of Organization Number of& type employees
Staff Workers12 Chemicals 321 130
05 Power / Energy 110 90
09 Gas / Petroleum 270 53
16 Heavy Engineering 260 63
02 Cement 90 102
03 Shipping 121 48
03 Automobile 72 36
05 Pharmaceutical 190 87
09 Others (Construction,Nuclear Paper, Electrical) 317 104
Total : 64 1751 713
Fatalities
Injuries
Near Misses
UnsafeBehaviour
The Social Engineer 35
The Survey Results
Organization case 1 : Interactions withengineers of Cement Company in theMaharashtra State of India brought out thefollowing issues on BBS interventions–
Three groups of 88 engineers observed239 unsafe behaviours of the workers duringthree days of training on BBS. On an average,three unsafe behaviours per worker wereidentified which means a total workforce of710 shop-floor employees possess 2030unsafe behaviours which is a serious concernof safety for an organization. A managersaid, "Though we are aware of the magnitudeof unsafe behaviours in our organization wedid not know how to control them".
Organization case 2: In the Gujarat Stateof India, 23 senior and middle managementemployees of a chemical manufacturingcompany (who had work experience between10 to 30 years) participated in a one-dayBBS workshop and raised and discussedthe following concerns on behavioral safetyin their organization–
On an average 2.5 unsafe behaviourswere observed at the shopfloor which meansabout 1125 unsafe behaviours existed in theorganization at present (450 employees x2.5 unsafe behaviours = 1125).
There are two kinds of employees asfar as safety consciousness is concerned.One kind of employees who has internallocus of control for safety meaning they areinternally conscious. The other kind ofemployees who are externally consciousmeaning they require external stimulus toalert them regularly. Whether fear factor isnecessary for creating safety culture? No,because fear or punishment will not give
sustainable result in changing unsafe to safebehaviours. How much time BBS would taketo give results? What changes can beacquired through BBS? Surprisingly, BBSstarts giving results quickly. More theobservers, more the observations, more thesafe behaviours. The outcomes or changesare the reduced unsafe behaviours, safeworking conditions, building safe culture etc.Is BBS a new approach which would be outsoon like Quality Circle? Not really, becauseBBS is a data driven approach. What getsmeasured gets done. As long as it givesresults in terms of reduced unsafe behaviours,it is most likely that BBS would stay in theorganization. It prevents accidents andaccident-related costs.
Organization case 3: 186 employeesincluding workers and executives of apharmaceutical organization in Gujarat Stateof India were trained on BBS. They cameout with the following aspects on BBS duringdiscussions in six days of their traininginterventions.
During observation tours, the observerscalculated 3.5 unsafe behaviors on an averageper worker being practiced at their workplaceon daily basis. They also found 34 unsafeconditions and corrected 30 on the spot.Though 20% of BBS observers are selectedper department in an organization, 70% ofthem must also observe contract workersas 70% of accidents happen to them. Inthis organization, a lady officer from qualitydepartment was found to be the only BBSobserver in India.
The survey participants observed andtick-marked the critical behaviours listed inthe above checklist as safe or at-risk toscore the data.
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201236
Critical safe/at-risk behaviours observed:
BehaviorsSAFE AT RISK
Staff Workmen Staff Workmen
Using PPE (Right PPE for the job & used Properly)
Head 98.1 99.5 1.4 .5
Eye 92.1 99.3 7.4 .2
Ears 89.8 85.3 4.7 2.9
Face 93.0 97.1 4.2 2.1
Respiratory System 87.4 90.3 8.4 1.6
Hands and Arms 96.7 99.1 1.4 .9
Arms 90.2 88.6 7.0 3.3
Trunk 86.0 91.5 5.6 2.2
Legs 92.6 98.3 4.7 1.7
Feet 94.9 77.2 3.3 .7
Housekeeping
Workplace area neat & clean 98.1 98.8 1.4 .3
Materials/ tools/ Equipments 96.7 97.6 2.3 .5organized properly
Leak / Spill / Waste in surrounding area 79.1 78.0 18.1 17.3
Procedures (SOPs / LOTO / Permits)
Inadequate 60.9 57.3 33.0 32.7
Not known/ understood 60.9 51.2 31.6 34.8
Not followed 53.5 49.0 34.0 35.8
Using Tools & Equipment
Wrong for the job 53.5 56.9 37.2 32.7
Used incorrectly 52.6 52.1 38.1 37.2
In unsafe condition 51.6 54.0 39.5 36.2
Material Manual handling
Body mechanics while lifting / 91.6 63.3 4.7 31.0Pushing / Pulling
Body Positioning / Protecting to avoid injury causes
Striking Against, Struck by objects 80.9 76.5 18.6 21.6
Caught in, on or between objects 83.7 75.8 15.8 20.6
Falling at same level or to different level 82.8 65.2 15.8 29.4
Contacting electric current 83.7 75.1 14.9 23.2
The Social Engineer 37
The critical safe/at-risk behaviours as examined in the table above need to be constantlyobserved by the staff and workmen to maintain safer situation in organizations.
ConclusionAccording to a general manager (safety), behavioral-based safety is all about changing
the basic organizational culture to inculcate positive safety at the workplace.
The body of behavioral research literature created through behavioural safety interventionshas made us realize the value of macro-ergonomics aspects. It is important to underlinethat people behave unsafe or take risks even in well designed work stations. People tendto take risks in safe environments and be very alert in unsafe environments. People speed-up their vehicles on highways and tend to be very alert in crowded streets. The engineeringsystems, the process or task design provided at workplaces are the hardware part; andthe software part is the behaviours of people who tend to behave safe or unsafe at times.
Behaviors SAFE AT RISK
Staff Workmen Staff Workmen
Contacting Temp. Extremes 83.7 70.4 14.4 22.7
Inhaling, Absorbing, & Swallowing 76.7 52.6 20.0 40.8Hazardous substance
Over exertion 70.7 58.1 20.0 30.4
Visual Focusing /Attentiveness / Reaction of people
Adjusting PPEs 84.2 85.8 14.4 12.5
Changing Position 87.9 76.0 11.2 19.4
Rearranging Job 87.9 67.0 9.3 24.6
Stopping Job 87.4 92.9 9.8 4.3
Attaching earthing 95.3 89.8 3.3 5.5
Providing Lockouts/ Tag outs 94.9 88.6 2.8 .5
Communication
Verbal interaction / Spoken Language 94.9 94.6 4.7 2.4
Signs & signals & symbols display 96.3 81.5 3.3 12.6
Written Communication & its effectiveness 97.7 94.1 .9 2.1
Use of non-Flameproof Equipments in Flammable Zone 1
Mobile phone 41.4 43.4 32.1 50.3
Torch 55.3 44.3 22.8 46.5
Radio 42.3 36.7 25.0 51.6
Camera 41.9 38.4 26.0 49.8
Antistatic shoes 75.3 76.8 11.6 14.9
Earthing single / double / interlock switch 92.1 81.0 5.1 12.5
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201238
behaviours among co-workers in followingsteps —l An awareness programme on BBS for
management staff at all levels.l One day awareness t raining of
employees across the plant;l Selecting (20%) observers from BBS
trained employees; and forming steeringcommittee of 8-10 people from BBStrained employees.
l Two days in-plant practical training ofBBS observers and steering committeemembers on how to set up theobservation process, how to developthe measure, making accuracy andconsistency checks, steering committeefunctioning etc.
l At this stage BBS observers and steeringcommittee members are fully preparedto implement BBS at workplace.
The above exercises have been have suc-cessfully tried in Indian organizations (includingpetroleum, engineering, automobile, cement,power, chemical, pharmaceutical etc.).
It is significant to mark that behavioralsafety is a data-driven approach. It's anorganization development (OD) interventionand a change management process which isachieved through the trained internal changeagents cal led as observers within theorganization who actually drive/implementBBS and create behavioral safety data month-on-month basis across the plants and units.
It is vital to address organizationalbehaviour issues while applying behavioralbased safety such as management commit-ment and leadership to safety, safetyeducation & training, compliance of safetyregulations. Most of the organizational safetysystems are top-driven whereas BBS is abottom-up approach
The organizational behaviour theory believesthat both the hardware and the software areequally important for implementing any newapproach or system in the organization.
Despite well designed work stations,the workmen/operators tend to engage inat-risk behaviours (such as not using PPE,work area not maintained appropriately, notusing correct tools for the job or tools notin good condition, inappropriate bodymechanics while lifting, pushing and pullingmaterial, not complying with work permitsor following Safe Operating Procedures (SOP),and using mobile while working) that maytrigger injury or accident. Also we have comeacross several case studies in organizationsrevealing that each of these at-risk behaviourshas been fatal to workmen, engineers, andmanagers.
Designing work stations, the processor task is the ergonomics level; handingover those work stations/tools to theemployees is another level of macro-ergonomics when people begin to use orbehave with the ergonomically designed workstations. Employees sit on the best designedchair with different postures. Applicationof behavioral safety in organizations providesus an experience of macro-ergonomics.
It is significant to recognize that thebehaviour observation and feedback process(BOFP) is used by the BBS trained observersfor behavioural change (from at-risk behavioursto safe behaviours) of co-workers on dailybasis in organizations for continuousassessment and recordkeeping to measureBBS progress on month-by-month.
The behavioural safety approach hasbeen practiced in Indian organizations forchange of at-risk behav iours to safe
The Social Engineer 39
Today the organizations are not onlytargeting zero accident/injury but also zeroingat-risk-behaviours through behavioral basedsafety approaches for creat ing safeenvironments for its employees. Behavioralsafety is getting well accepted in India andelsewhere and showing good results in termsof improved safety records, building positiveSHE culture, promoting safe behaviours andreduced at-risk behaviours at workplaces.Behavioral-based safety programs improveworker safety. In India, behavioral basedsafety is referred to as: become brothers ofsafety (BBS) to save lives at workplace.
It is true that India, as predicted bymany, is to become the world's third largesteconomy by adopting the best work systemssuch as behavioural safety.
Finally we need to explore how BBScan be correlated with economics, HR andIR of an organization in terms of savingexpenditures on accidents/injury relatedcosts, promoting better HR/IR relations in anenterprise level through regular observer-observee interactions across work areas.
The lessons learnt from the presentsurvey researchl The hundreds/thousands unsafe
behaviours are noticeable at anyworkplace on daily basis depending uponsize of an organization. Hence thepotential for accidents exist in everyorganization unless unsafe behavioursare tapped and controlled daily. It wouldnot come as a surprise any time if thereis a fire or major accident as thousandsof unsafe behaviours are observable atany workplace.
l Showing zero accidents record andinternational certifications do not reallyensure safe organization unless we targetzero unsafe behaviors at workplaces.
l Organizational case studies revealedthat a single unsafe behaviour can proveto be fatal.
l Lack of or partial safety enforcementreinforces unsafe behaviours at theworkplace.
l Preventing unsafe behaviours can bringdown costs related to injury/near miss/accidents.
l BBS interventions have demonstrated fallin unsafe behaviours and rise in safebehaviours. BBS training also assist inreducing the number of unsafeconditions in the organization.
l The managements have started believingthat engineering and administrativecontrols alone do not provide adequatesafe workplace unless behavioral safetyis practiced and unsafe behaviorscontrolled in order to ensure total safetyat workplaces.
l Though OHSAS 18001 : 2007 hasincluded three clauses that emphasizebehav ioral aspects of safety, theorganizations have yet not followed itexactly as the OHSAS 18001 : 2007does not provide any guidelines on howto implement these clauses.
l The Indian multi-national organizationshave begun to consider the humanbehavior aspects of workplace safetymore as compared to yester years.
l In Indian organizations, BBS is referredas to Become Brothers of Safety to savelives of people at the work place.Employees observe & correct unsafebehaviour of each other.
l Unsafe behaviour can happen to anyoneregardless of position, education,experience and age. A Vice-Presidentwent up on the fourth floor to inspect a
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201240
construction project, he received a callon his mobile and started talking, gotso engrossed that he just put his stepforward and fell down from the 4th floorand died on the spot. An engineer onthe shop floor thought of crossing aconveyor belt while it was stopped, ashe crossed, it started working, he gotcrushed and died. A Deputy GeneralManager got a serious eye injury whenhe was observing a workman withoutwearing safety goggles and an objectflew from the machine and hit him. Soaccident/injury spares no one, evenmanagers."If you observe anybody behaving unsafe,
you need to save him immediately, beyondwhich you may not get time to save him. Ifailed to alert one person as I was about totell him, before that he turned and fell", aplant head.
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Pettinger, C. B. (2001). People-Based Safety :The Optimal Approach to Behavior-BasedSafety. Safety Performance Solutions, Inc.
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Krause, T. R. (1995). Employee Driven Systemsfor Safe Behaviour, Van Nostrand Reinhold,New York.
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Locke, E. et al. (1981). Goal-Setting and TaskPerformance, Psychological Bulletin, 90:125-152.
Marsh, T. et al. (1998). The Role of ManagementCommitment in Determining the Successof a Behavioral Intervention, Journal of theInstitute of Occupational Safety and Health,2 (4).
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The Social Engineer 41
PERSONALITY PROFILEOF BODO MILITANTS IN ASSAM Study of Length of Detention
Chandra B. P. Singh*Shyama Nand Jha**
I. B. Chaturvedi***
AbstractThe study was conducted on 85 militants released from the confinement institutionsat various intervals. The militants affiliated to four groups- Bodo Liberation Tiger(BLT), National Democratic Front of Bodo (NDFB), United Liberation Front ofAssam (ULFA) and All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) were arranged into fiveconfinement periods 3, 6, 9, 12, and +12 months. In each category 17 militantswere included. A battery of scale translated into both the Assamese and Bodoversions was employed to assess variables in question. A linear relationshipbetween length of confinement and its effect was observed. In order to partialout the effect of length of released period (concomitant variable), ANCOVAfollowed by multiple comparison between mean values was computed. To ascertainthe effect of length of detention on personality make-up, trend analysis followedby the best fitting curve was done. The findings emerged out of analysis suggestedthat length of released period (concomitant variable) had least contribution topersonality make-up of militants. In comparison to base-line group (3 months)militants who remained confined for a longer period had less anxiety and hostility,showing a trend of stabilization after a certain length of confinement. Militantswho remained confined for a longer period showed a deprived – induced attitudetowards parents. Confinement resulted in severe damage of both the private andsocial self-concept. A marginal reduction in the level of insecurity was evidentin the militants who confined for a longer period. The duration of 6-9 monthsconfinement was crucial in the sense that an increment on the level of anxiety,hostility and insecurity was noted. An upswing in the deprived-induced attitudetowards parent, family and authority was evident.
The study was designed to map out a profile of personality traits of Bodo militants,residing in their home districts after being released from the confinement institutions at
* Associate Professor, University Deptt. of Psychology, T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur (Bihar).** Associate Professor, Birsa College, Khunti, Ranchi University (Jharkhand).*** Lecturer, Jubilee College, Bhurkunda V. B. University, Hazaribagh (Jharkhand).
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201242
various lengths of intervals. Previous studies(Goffman, 1961; Kumar, 2010; Sandhu, 1997)on criminals and juvenile delinquents supporta linear relationship between length ofdetention and change in personality make-up. At the initial period of confinement,juvenile delinquents had low self-esteem,high sense of insecurity, high anxiety andnegative attitude towards parents. As theperiod of detention increased, the profile ofdelinquents got gradually changed (Kumar,2010). Anxiety, insecurity and attitude towardsauthority gradually started declining after sixmonths. When the length of detention wasmore than six months the profile of delinquentstook U-turn by maintaining high level ofanxiety, low self-esteem, high sense ofinsecurity and negative attitude towardsauthority. Sandhu (1997) observed thathostility increased and self-image lowereddown significantly as a result of either shortor long-term detention. Bose and Mookherjee(1985) recorded effect of stress on mentalhealth of short and long term prisoners andfound that prison life stressors altered thepattern of personality. There existed aconsistent pattern of change in behaviour ofdetainees as a result of temporal gap duringdetention (Eysenck, 1975). Contrary to it, ahost of researchers on detainees did notsuggest any consistent pattern (Bannisteret al., 1973). Changes occurred duringconfinement but it does not predict thespecific direction. Treatment made duringdetention may have an adverse effect onmilitants. Sometimes militants suffer personaldefacement and personal disfigurement(Goffman, 1961). The disculturation andstigmatization resulting from confinementresulted in several difficulties on their returnto society (Sandhu, 1997).
The personality dimensions selected forthe study were: anxiety, self-concept, hostilityand insecurity. Besides, the attitude towardsauthority, parents and family was an additionalvariable to be investigated in the study. Theresearch questions under investigation were:
1. Did the period of confinement have anyimpact on personality make-up ofmilitants?
2. Was there any effect of length ofreleased period (LRP) on personalityvariables of militants?
3. Was there any variation in the level ofanxiety, hostility, insecurity and self-concept over the period of confinement?
The Research StrategyThe setting and coverage
Altogether 85 militants released atvarious intervals, affiliated to mainly fourgroups — Bodo Liberation Tiger (51), NationalDemocratic Front of Bodo (11), UnitedLiberation Front of Assam (14) and All BodoStudents Union (19) from 5 home districtsviz., Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Kamrupand Bongaigaon participated in the study. 14hardcore, 25 most wanted and 46 wantedmil i tants consti tuted the rankwiseclassification on the basis of police record. Itwas a convenient sample and hence, onlythose respondents were included in thecoverage who were willing to cooperate theinvestigator. The length of confinement variedfrom three to more than +12 months, showinga gap of equally-spaced three months. Ineach category 17 militants across rank werenested. Their age ranged from 20 to +40years. By the same token, their educationradiated between 10 and graduate. Of them54 per cent were married. Similarly, 55 percent had less than 1 lac income per year.
The Social Engineer 43
Instruments usedA battery of scale was employed to
measure variables in question. Each scalewas translated into both the Assamese andBodo versions.
l Anxiety scale. The one-dimensionalscale consisting of 20 items originallydeveloped by Taylor (1953) measuresthe manifested form of anxiety on tworesponse alternatives (true and false).The Cronbach alpha coefficient of thetranslated version in the both languageswas found .73 and .76 respectively.
l Hostility scale. It was also an one-dimensional two-point scale having 30items originally developed by Blackburn(1974). The alpha coefficient wasrecorded .67 and .72, showing a fairlyreliable version of the scale.
l Insecurity scale. The one-dimensionalscale comprising of 20 items had afive-point response alternatives developedduring the study. The reliability wasrecorded .81 and .74 in the bothAssamese and Bodo version.
l Self-Concept scale. It had two parts:private and social. Each part had 15items measuring judgment about her/him (Singh, 1971). The alpha coefficientof each part in the both languages wasfound 0.69 and 0.77 and 0.72 and 0.75respectively.
l Attitude scale. The three dimensionalscale – parents, family and authoritydeveloped by Singh (1975) consistedof 13, 15, and 12 items. It was a five-point scale. The reliability was recordedfai rly high with more than 0.77coefficients.
Field StrategyWith the help of local field investigators
(FI) the snow-ball technique was employedto contact militants residing in Bodoland.The FIs assured them to keep all informationconfidential. In some cases they werereluctant to disclose much information. Atleast nine respondents left in mid of thesession and did not turn up. Such caseswere not included in the analysis. Duringthe interview session they were surroundedby a number of villagers. In a few cases FIshad to face their strong reaction to somequestions. The entire response-capturingexercise took about six months in 2010.
ResultsUnadjusted F-value ofMilitants’ Personality
Length of released period was presumedto be concomitant variable, playing a rolein personality make-up with the treatmentvariable, length of detention. ANCOVA wascomputed to measure effect of length ofdetention after partialling out effect of lengthof released period on personality make-up(adjusted F). Table 1 displays the unadjustedF-value of each variable along with the lengthof released period (LRP). All five groupsclassified on the basis of length of detentiondiffered significantly on each personalitydimension other than insecurity (F = 0.44,p>0.05) and attitude towards family (F =2.13, p>0.05). The groups did not differ onthe concomitant variable (the length ofreleased period) (p>0.05). While explainingthe variation in personality make-up, omegasquare was calculated 23 per cent variationin social-self followed by 15 per cent inhostility was accounted for by the length of
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201244
detention. The length of detention couldexplain only 7 per cent variation in attitudetowards parents and authority. About 10 percent variation in anxiety and 11 per cent inprivate self-concept could be predicted fromthe length of detention.
Adjusted F of Militants’ Personality
When the correlation between treatmentvariable and concomitant variable is low orinsignificant, the adjusted F-value will differbut little from the unadjusted F-values. After
eliminating the effect of the length of releasedperiod (LRP) the adjusted F of ANCOVAwas computed to assess the net effect ofthe length of detention on personality make-up. Table 2 reflects the adjusted F-value ofeach personality dimension. All groupsdiffered significantly on each personalitydimension other than insecurity and attitudetowards family and authority (p>0.05). Amarginal variation in F-value (betweenunadjusted and adjusted) was noted. Whilepartialling out the effect of the length ofreleased period the groups did not differ onattitude towards authority (F = 1.02, p >0.05)which showed a significant difference onunadjusted F (see, table 1). A marginalvariation in personality make-up was recordedas a result of the net effect of length ofdetention (omega square-ranged from 7 to21 per cent).
Table 1
Unadjusted F of ANCOVA
Variable Unadjuste OmegaF Square in %
1.Anxiety 3.39*. 9.78
LRP 96 >.05 -
2.Hostility 4.74** 15.17LRP .96 >.05 -
3. Insecurity .44 >.05 -LRP .96 >.05 -
4.Self-concept
● Private 3.74** 11.28
● LRP .96 >.05 -
● Social 7.25** 23.44
● LRP .95 >.05 -
5.Attitude towards
● Parents 2.62* 7.27
● LRP .96 >.05 -
● Family 2.13 >.05 -
● LRP .94 >.05 -
● Authority 2.65* 7.65
● LRP .92 >.05 -
LRP = Length of released period;df = 4 , 80,* <.05, ** <.01.
Table 2
Adjusted F of ANCOVA
Variable Unadjusted Omega
F Square in %
1. Anxiety 3.50* 10.16
2. Hostility 4.24** 13.46
3. Insecurity .44 >.05 -
4. Self-concept
● Private 3.60** 11.42● Social 6.82** 21.34
5. Attitude towards
● Parents 2.55* 7.24● Family 2.13 >.05 -● Authority 1.02 >.05 -
df = 4,79; * .05; ** <.01. Partialling out the effectof length of released period (LRP)
The Social Engineer 45
Regression of Length of ReleasedPeriod on Personality Make-up
Linear regression being part of ANCOVAwas computed to assess the contributionof concomitant variable to personality make-up, if any. Table 3 presents F-value of eachvariable. It was obvious from the analysisthat the length of released period hadinsignificant contribution to personality make-up (p>.05). The groups differed not becauseof concomitant variable but as a result oftreatment variable, the length of detention.
Multiple Comparisons amongMean Values
Post-hoc comparison among five groupsof militants on each personality dimensionwas computed to find out group difference.Table 4 revealed that anxiety got increasedin the group of 6-9 months confinementcompared to +12 months confinement. Thebaseline group significantly differed from +12months group. Hostility was recorded high
in the group of 6-9 months confinement. Asthe period of confinement increased hostilitybecame gradual ly lowered down incomparison to baseline group. Other than6-9 months confinement both the private aswell as social self-concept of militants becamelowered down in all groups of confinement.The groups differed significantly from eachother (p<0.05) substantiating the effect ofthe length of detention on self concept. Adeprived-induced attitude towards parentswas recorded in the militants of all groups.The militants had less deprived-inducedattitude towards parents during the periodof 6-9 months (X = 39-94). 94 By and large,the 6-9 months confinement was noted tobe a crucial period.
Trend Analysis of Personality Dimensions
Since it was a time-series data basedon the equally-spaced confinement periodand having equal number of militants in eachcategory, the orthogonal polynomialstechnique followed by the method of leastsquare was employed to determine the trendof increment or decrement in personalitymake-up of militants. Table 6 demonstratesthe best fitting straight line of each linearrelationship between the length of confinementperiod and its effect on personality make-up. The F-value of linear component of eachvariable other than insecurity was foundsignificant. Interestingly, all personalityvariables showed negative relationship withthe length of detention suggesting a trendof decrement in anxiety, hostility and severedamage of private as well as social self-concept. In case of attitude towards parentsand authority a positive linear relationshipwas found. No other trend was reportedsignificant (p>0.05).
Table 3
Regression of Length of Released Periodon Personality Make up
Variable F
1. Anxiety 3.26 >.05
2. Hostility 2.12 >.05
3. Insecurity .007 >.05
4. Self-concept
● Private .43 >.05● Social 1.43 >.05
5. Attitude towards
● Parents .009 >.05● Family .008 >.05● Authority .85 >.05
F (1, 83) = 3.96, p <.05.
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201246
Table 4
Multiple Comparison among Mean Values
Length of confinement (in month)
Variable 0-3 3-6 6-9 9-12 12 & above(n=17) (n=17) (n=17) (n=17) (n=17)
1. Anxiety Mean 11.58 10.76 11.82 10.94 9.23SD (2.31) (2.52) (1.84) (2.53) (1.75)
2. Hostility Mean 17.35 14.35 17.76 15.70 14.76SD (2.36) (3.42) (2.16) (2.79) (3.15)
3. Insecurity Mean 52.05 51.17 53.58 53.82 54.11SD (8.35) (7.03) (7.30) (8.37) (7.01)
4. Private self concept Mean 52.82 47.29 48.76 45.17 47.23SD (4.16) (4.60) (8.81) (5.98) (4.94)
5. Social self concept Mean 50.76 48.00 53.52 44.29 47.23SD (4.72) (5.10) (5.97) (5.36) (5.11)
6. Attitude towards● Parents Mean 40.70 42.70 39.94 41.47 44.17
SD (3.89) (4.87) (4.00) (4.58) (3.36)● Family Mean 53.82 58.52 56.35 57.35 58.29
SD (6.78) (5.21) (4.89) (4.25) (4.83)● Authority Mean 34.70 33.17 35.23 36.35 33.76
SD (5.29) (4.67) (3.94) (6.16) (3.12)
Note. Mean value of insecurity and attitude towards family and authority could not be comparedbecause of insignificant adjusted F-value.
Table 5Difference between Groups of Militants
Variable Comparison
Baseline and other* Between other groups*1. Anxiety I and V III and V2. Hostility I and II II and IV
I and V III and V3. Self concept
● Private I and all groups II and IVIII and IVIII and V
● Social I and all groups II and all groupsIII and IVIV and V
4. Attitude towards parents I and II II and IIII and V III and V
IV and VNote: gr. I = baseline; II gr. = 3-6 months, III gr. = 6-9 months, gr. IV = 9-12 months and gr. V = 12
months and above; * only significant difference has been displayed; computation based onNewman-Keuls procedure.
The Social Engineer 47
DiscussionAn attempt to understand the psyche
of Bodo militants assumes significance intwo ways: first, it would help formulateintervention to counter insurgency andsecond, it gives an angle to assess thetreatment during the confinement which was,by and large accountable for imbalances inpersonality make-up. Soon after the formationof Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) on 10th
February, 2003, the role of Bodo ex-militantsin development programme cannot beunderestimated. The past treatment by thejail authority during the confinement periodoften gives a sustainable impression on themilitants. They carry on for a longer periodand share it with the society. Though it wasdifficult to contact undertrial militants ofBodoland who were in various confinementinstitutions, some concerted efforts weremade in this direction. The state authority
did not allow the investigator to interviewthem in jai l . Final ly, the investigatorapproached the ex-militants to cover thedesired respondents through snow-balltechnique. Keeping many constraints andlimitations into mind the study addressedsome important issues. Length of confinementhad a significant effect on anxiety and hostility.It had least contribution to insecurity.Confinement resulted in severe damage ofboth the private and social self concept.The findings suggested a deprived-inducedattitude towards parents and authority as aresult of confinement.
Is there any effect of length of releasedperiod on personality make-up of militants?Length of released period was presumed tobe concomitant variable which was equallypotential to influence personality make-up.Length of released period had least
Table 6
Trend Analysis of Personality Dimensions
Trend Best fitting line Y F-Value
Linear Quadratic Cubic Quartic
1. Anxiety 10.87–.45X 11.91** 1.06 .25 .34
2. Hostility 17.3–.13X 18.12** .07 .64 .13
3. Insecurity 51.88+.23X 1.62 .12 .009 .04
● Private 104.24–5.57X 13.00** .96 .96 .03
● Social 52–.36X 28.30** .11 .27 .31
4. Attitude towards
● Parents 40.09+.19X 10.25** .24 .004 .006
● Authority 34.28+.04X 4.39** .02 .003 .03
df = 1, 83; ** <.01, * <.05
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201248
contribution to any personality variable. Evenafter statistically controlling the effect ofreleased period, militants maintained a certainlevel of anxiety and hostility and had a lowerlevel of private as well as social self-concept.It was also true in case of attitude towardsparents but not towards authority. Regressionof any variable on the length of releasedperiod was not found significant, justifyingthe net effect of length of confinement.
While comparing different length ofconfinement the study attempted to answerthe question: Is there any variation in thelevel of anxiety, hostility, insecurity and self-concept over the period of confinement? Incomparison to baseline group (3 monthsconfinement) a decrement in the level ofanxiety and hostility was evident. A marginalincrement in the level of insecurity was foundin them as the length of detention increased.The confinement period of 6-9 months wasmore crucial in all cases. At this stage anunusual variation in personality make-up inrespect to the baseline or the end line groupwas recorded. The study further confirmeda linear relationship between the length ofconfinement and personality variables.Whatever deviation found in them was aresult of treatment during the detention (Singh& Singh, 2004). If anxiety and hostility aregradually stabilized and insecurity increasedas a result of detention for a longer period,it is desirable to rethink about treatment tobe induced within the confinement period. Awell-designed intervention is needed to bringthem into mainstream.
ReferencesBannister, P. A., Samuel, E. R., Holland, S.T.
and Posteur, O.L. (1973). Psychologicalcorrelates of adult offenders, British JournalCriminology, 9, 756-786.
Blackburn, R. (1974). The development andvalidation of hostility and aggression scale.Special Hospital Research Reports ,Hospital Research Unit, London.
Bose, S. and Mukherjee, K. (1985). Prison-environment interface and Prisoner’spersonality: A study of the interaction effectunder imprisonment. Indian Journal ofCriminology and Criminalization, 6, 312-324.
Eysenck, H. J. (1975). The inequality in man.Fontance: London.
Goffman, E. (1961). On the characteristics ofthe total institution: The innate world. InDovald R. Cressey, (ed.), The prison’sstudies on institutional organization andchange, Helt: New York.
Kumar, S. (2010). Effect of detention in remandhomes on the personality of delinquents.Unpublished doctoral dissertation. T.M.Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur.
Sandhu, H. S. (1997). Juvenile delinquency:cause, control and prevention, McGrawHill: New Delhi.
Singh, A.K. (1975). Parental attitude scale,Mimeograph, Ranchi University, Ranchi.
Singh, U.P. (1971). Prisoner’s self-concept.Psychological Studies, 15 (2), 71-76.
Singh, U. R., & Singh, C. B. P. (2004). Terrorists’personality profile. Unpublished Report,Defence Institute of PsychologicalResearch, DRDO, Ministry of Defence,New Delhi.
Taylor, J. A. (1953). A personality test of manifestanxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,48, 645-657.
n
The Social Engineer 49
ADVANCES IN BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE An Organizational Perspective
P. K. Mishra*
Soumya Mishra**
The paper makes an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of Indian Organizationsin terms of globalization, economy, market, HR focus and corporate excellence.It integrates research in the fields of OB, HR, OD, market, job attitudes andcorporate trends. It brings out a future vision for managers as well as researchers.It makes an attempt to reflect the advances in social sciences.
Life begins at the far-side of despair. Man is the only creature who can rebel againstwhat he is. From Chengiz Khan to Osama Bin Laden, the world has seen life in terror,heroism and development. Life is full of assumptions. Psychology sprang from philosophyas an illusion. Social sciences including history, political science, economics, sociologyand anthropology, after the Second World War, paved the way for the establishment of aninterdisciplinary behavioural science called psychology. All sciences believe that life is nota problem that we can solve it; rather, it is a mystery, we can only discover it. We havejoined a race without a finishing point.
After the Second World War, there was a beginning of a paradigm shift in behaviouralsciences with Hyder’s Balance Theory (1948), Leon Festinger’s Cognitive DissonanceTheory (1957), Schachter’s Social Comparison Theory (1959), Bem’s Model (1960), Vroom’sModel (1964), Maslow’s Need Hierarchy (1954), Mc-Gregor’s Theory X and Theory Y (1960)and Seligman’s Learned Helplessness Concept (1975). All these gathered momentumduring the sixties and seventies. A capitalist approach to human resource developmentgave way to a humanistic and human relations approach. Behavioural scientists had adialogue with organizational diagnostics and social mapping. A brave new world emergedduring the eighties. With Asian Games, Mrs. Indira Gandi’s vision and television, Indiastarted a new society. Behavioural scientists consider the blue star operation in GoldenTemple as a turning point in the life of this country. People started thinking, people startedfeeling. Our values and attitudes influence our behaviour (VAB Model).
* Professor & Head P. G. Department of Psychology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar-751 004(e-mail: [email protected]).
** Lecturer in HRIBCS, School of Management S ‘O’ A University
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201250
Where do we place behavioural sciencein 2010? Let me give you one example: therelat ionship between geography andpsychology. In the 2010 September issueof the leading research journal AmericanPsychologist, we find three articles, namely(i) Does it matter where we live? The urbanpsychology of character strength, (ii )Statewide differences in personality: Towarda psychological geography of the UnitedStates, and, (iii) Ethos of independence acrossregions in the United States: The Production– Adoption model of cultural change.
Behavioural Sciences have advancedin widening their scope, intensity andapplications. Applied behavioural science isleading from the front. They are competentin accommodation, assimi lation andintegration. As a result of 1991 LPG(Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization)movement in India, there is a sea changein the life styles of people and strategicresponses of organizations in terms ofportfolio-related, structure-related, andprocess-related strategic HRD and HRM.People ask: shoes are sold in air conditionedshow rooms, and, fruits and vegetables aresold on the footpath. Is it globalization?Behavioural scientists look for the rightanswer. There we are –
Anthropologists are no more confinedto tribal culture research. Sociologists arecoming out of caste and clan designs ofresearch. All of them look to the dynamicsof Tata leaving Singur, rehabilitation of thedestitute at Kalinga Nagar in Odisha or theold issues taken up by Sundarlal Bahugunaand Medha Patkar Rehabilitation Council ofIndia is a part of the new behaviouralscience advances.
The 2003, volume 30, number 1 Marchissue of the Journal of Applied BehaviouralScience incorporated the following researchpapers (i) Nurturing Collaborative Relations:Bui lding rust in Inter OrganizationalCollaboration, (ii) The ‘Threat Hypothesis’,Personality and attitudes toward diversity,(iii) Organizational change as a process ofdeath, dying, and rebirth, and, (iv) Reflectionson the future of organizational development.The 2010, volume 46, number 2 June issueof the same International Journal Publishedby SAGE contains such research papersas (i) Organizational learning and reform atthe New York City Police Department, (ii)Diversity change in organizations: A systemic,multilevel, and nonlinear process, (iii)Everyday sense-giving: A closer look atsuccessful plant managers, (iv) Pre-traininginf luences and readiness to changedimensions: A focus on static versus dynamicissues. Another 2010 issue of AppliedBehavioural Science Journal “Environmentand Behaviour” contains such areas as (i)Do Homebuyers want green features in theircommuni t ies, (i i ) Race, place, andneighboring: Social this among neighborsin urban, suburban, and rural contexts, (iii)Hazard proximity or risk perception?Evaluating effects of natural and technologicalhazards on housing values, (iv) Connectedto birds but not bees: Valence moderatesimplicit associations with nature, (v) An “InConvenient Truth” Increases knowledge,concern, and willingness to reduce greenhouse gases, (vi) Effects of classroomacoustics on performance and well-being inelementary school children: A Field Study,(vii) Does anthropogenic noise in nationalparks impair memory?, (vii) Interpersonalbehaviour in an isolated and confined
The Social Engineer 51
environment, (viii)Houses of worship asrestorative environments, (ix) A naturalisticobservational study of informal segregation:Seating patterns in Lectures, (x) Genderdifferences in distance estimates whenexposed to multiple routes, (xi) Casino Décoreffects on gambling emotions and intentions,(xii) Cultural and biological determinants inthe evaluation of urban green spaces.
Advances in behavioural sciences havebeen addressing to such issues which bearheavily upon improving Quality of life as wellas quality of work life. An International Journalin Sociology “Work and Occupations”publishes a special volume on “Work PlaceRelations in a Global World”, another publishesa special volume on “HIV/AIDS and Life SkillEducation” (Social Science International,2009). In the very first volume of anInternational News Magazine of PsychologicalResearch (October, 2010), the areas coveredare: cognitive and neuro-psychology, autisticbehaviour analysis, behavioural issues inforest management, researches onmeditation, and, software for qualitative dataanalysis. All these reflect the paradigm shiftin behavioural sciences.
More than half the population of theworld lives in China and India. These twogreat Nations are consumed now with growingtheir GDP and so the importance of well-being must take root there. How that mighthappen, I can not foresee, but I am mindfulof cognation: happiness turns out to be morecontagious than depression and upwardspirals around positive goals will occur. MartinSeligman’s (2010) hopes for India and theworld give a new direction to the advancesin behavioural science in terms of positivepsychology which incorporates positivesubjective experiences; positive individual
traits; and, positive institution. It involvesadaptability, admiration, agreeableness, agingsuccessful ly, compassion, emot ionalintelligence, and friendship. flow, forgiveness,flourishing relationships, gratitude, goodcharacter, happiness, hope, hardiness,kindness, learned optimism, life satisfaction,mindfulness, positive ef fect, positivepsychological capital, resilience, subjectivewellbeing, and strong cognitive mapping.
We are living in a complex, technologydriven and knowledge – intensive sensitiveenvironment. The society has becomecompetitive, grim, and tenacious. Alvin Toffler(1971) gave us the idea of ‘Future Shock’,‘Third Wav’ and ‘Power Game’. Peters andWaterman drove us towards ‘In Search ofExcellence’. Shive Khera (2004) reassuredthat ‘You can win’. Robin Sharma (2003)told us – who will cry when you will die. In‘World is Flat’, Friedman speaks that thelion is the king of the jungle. When the sunrises, the lion runs, the innocent deer alsorun. The lion does not sit and wait for thedeer to jump into its mouth. It has to runfaster than the deer to catch hold of it andget its food for the day. Everybody has toperform. The buzz word for behaviouralscience is performance. Enthusiasm is notenough. Excellence comes when a performertakes pride in doing his best. Every job isa self portrait of the person who does itregardless of what the job is, whether it iswashing cars, sweeping the floor or paintinga house. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)observed that if a man is called to be astreet sweeper, he should sweep streetseven as Michelangelo painted, or BeethovenComposed Music, Shakespeare wrote poetry.He should sweep streets so well that allthe host of heaven and earth will pause to
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201252
say, “Here lived a great street sweeper whodid his job well”. Behavioural scientists feelthat the tragedy of life does not lie in notreaching the goal. The tragedy lies in havingno goal to reach.
Across a wide and expanding spectrumof products and production capabilities, fromsuperconductiv ity to supercomputers,semiconductors to satelli tes, ‘miracle’materials to genetic engineering, technologyhas become the single most important factordriv ing global industrial competit ion.Technological developments and innovationare engendering new businesses,transforming old ones, and redefining therules of competitive success. Competitivesuccess increasingly goes to enterprisesthat can absorb, apply and coordinate newtechnological developments quickly.
Successful firms across the world focuson the commercialization of innovative ideasto meet specific business and customerneeds. For this, they develop and use toolsand techniques, structures and processes,systems and devices to be more dynamic,productive and innovative. Keeping a productl ine competitive requires continuous,incremental improvements in function, costand quality. Cost effective design, newprocess/ product technologies, concurrent/simultaneous engineering, and flexiblemanufacturing systems and a high level ofproduction engineering are most importantin this context. Competitive success todayincreasingly depends on technology.
Intense global industrial competition hasengendered volatile dynamics of globaltechnological change. The latter serves toexpand and intensify the former. Both ofthem, in turn, have brought about a number
of changes in the nature and structure ofworld industry. Some of the importantobservable changes in this context are :
● Shorter product life cycles● Shorter product change over cycles
● Higher rate of new product development● Shorter production runs
● Qual ity, and productiv ity quali tyintegration, in terms of zero-defectproduction
● Total quality control (TQC) or companywide total quality management (TQM)
● Equipment and process technology asa strategic resource
● Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
● Increasing importance of projectmanagement
● Changes in the concepts of efficiencyand productivity (from economies ofscale to economies of scope), whichplace greater emphasis on flexibilityand innovativeness
● Shi f t to a new techno-economicparadigm based on a new set ofconcepts of quality, responsiveness,speed to market, flexibility and efficiencyin service
● Technological changes in informationhandl ing equipment and of f iceautomation
● Compet i t iv e strategy based ontechnology and training of employeesin multiple work skills, participation andresponsibility
● Computer aided design (CAD) andmanufacturing (CAM)
● Increasing role of technologicalforecasting
The Social Engineer 53
● Increasing use of automated decisionaids like Decision Support Systems(DSS) Expert Systems (ES) andSimulation Experiments
● Combination of technologies, i.e.,‘technology fusion’ or development of‘hybrid’ technologiesThese and related changes have led to
certain ongoing trends that dominate theworld industrial scene. These trends are :● Globalization● Automation● Knowledge intensive nature of production
and service related activities● Information technology based faster
economic metabolism of organizations,markets and production systems inindustrially advanced nations
● Transnational strategic al l iancesbetween firms, organization networksand inter-organizational structuresThese changes and trends are influ-
encing in a reciprocally reinforcing mannerthe pace of scientific and technologicaldevelopments. The latter in turn are genera-ting new materials, processes and productioncapabilities in a spiraling pattern of growthand change. In such a turbulent and volatilemilieu, the nature and intensity of globalindustrial competition are characterized byboth increasing uncertainty and growingcomplexity. The latter are further complicatedby the following factors and their interactions–
● Overcapacity of production facilities inmany industries
● Saturation and increasing segmentationof markets
● Changing customer values and moreexacting user requirements of productcost, quality and performance
● Need to lower the break even point owingto increasing fractionation of markets
● Emergence of unexpected competitorsacross the world
● Unsteady currencies and fluctuatingexchanges rates
● Unanticipated connections amongindustries owing to equipment andprocess technology changes in onebranch of industry producing cascadingimpacts on other branches and sectors
Markets have become global but highlysegmented. They are characterized byintensified competitive pressures, fasterproduct renewal and high quality andtechnologically sophisticated customizedproducts and services aimed at specificniches of increasingly fragmented anddifferentiated markets across the world. Sucha picture of the state of global industrialcompetition brings out the exceedingly difficultand demanding nature of the requirementsfor coping with the extant dynamic situationand managing the central role of technologytherein (Verma, 2009).
In an article entitled “Ten Trends towatch in 2006 (April, Indian Management),Ian Davis and Elizabeth Stephenson observedthat Macro-economic factors, environmentaland social issues, and business and industrydevelopments will all profoundly shape thecorporate landscape. It implicates that centresof economic activity will shift profoundly, notjust globally, but also regionally. Public sectoractivities will be enhanced, making productivitygains essential. The consumer landscape willchange and expand significantly. Thebattlefield for talent will shift. Ongoing shiftsin labour and talent will be far more profoundthan the widely observed migration of jobs tolow-wage countries. Business leaders need
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201254
to argue and demonstrate forcefully theintellectual, social and economic case forbusiness in society. Eco-business and CSRwill be focused. And, management will turnfrom art to science. In India, for the societyas a whole to be righteous, we need creationof righteousness in family, education, service,career, business and industry.
Ex-President of India Kalam (2006)observes when you have a mission to becomea great corporate or a brand institution, youneed to possess both righteousness and anindomitable spirit. This spiri t has twocomponents: there must be a vision leadingto higher goals of achievement. Second, thereshould be a strong determination to achievethe goal. In 2020, such a spirit is crucial toestablish Brand Institutions, which can createvalue, add wealth, and develop great humanresources. Wendy Becker (2006), Principal,Mc. Kinsey, London observes that, out of tenforces shaping the global businessenvironment, the most important one is‘growing number of consumers in emergingeconomic changing consumer tastes (87%),followed by ‘shift of economic activity betweenand within regions’, ‘greater ease of obtaininginformation and developing knowledge’,‘increasingly global labour and talent markets’,‘increasing constraints in supply or usage ofnatural resources’, ‘increasingcommunication/ interaction in business andsocial realms as a result of technologicalinnovation’, ‘shifting industry structures /emerging forms of corporate organizations’,‘application of scientific techniques andapproaches to business management’, ‘moreintense social back last against business’,and ‘growth of public sector’. In the Indiancontext, Rao (2004) observes that rewardsystems have undergone a sea change sinceglobalization. In today’s talent market place,
you can retain your best people only bydifferentiating in their favour and by offering amix of monetary and non-monetary rewards;the key, though, is not only to reward high,but also to reward the right people in theright way. People are not the most valuableassets, but right people are (Anand Nayak,ITC Executive VP (HR), 2006). In India, noleader can be everything to everyone. Norcan he/she avoid unpleasant decisions.Employees understand that, but they expectfairness and consistency. A leader, likeCaesar’s wife, should be above suspicion.Leadership is both an opportunity and aresponsibility. Nandan Nilekuwi, CEO, InfosysTechnologies (2006) observes that, in India,companies have not been investing enoughin people. Rather than train them, they letthem go. Our people are our capital. Themore we invest in them, the more they canbe effective. In Indian B-schools, we areproducing only followers, not leaders. Indiansociety makes people fit into a groove(Gupta, 2006).
Some people feel the rain; others justget wet. People who walk on water knowwhere the stones are and our best thoughtscome from others. In performing andintelligent organizations, for employees, dulyturns into desire and desire turns into delight.In most organizations, people see things andask ‘why’? But, in excellent organizations,they imagine things events which were neverthere, and ask – why not? (Bernard Shaw).
Excellence refers to a surpassing qualityor merit and an outstanding performance inone’s field of work. It can work as bedrock ofrenaissance in developing countries.Excellence involves immense mental andphysical effort and sacrifice and must berecognized and suitably rewarded. It flourishesin the nurseries of corporations, but is
The Social Engineer 55
noticeably absent in corporations, which arehotbeds of politics, grim competition of nervesand cold-blooded commercialism. It requiresboth individual and team effort. Khandwallaclassified corporate excellence into sixcategories: Competit ive rejuvenatory,institutionalized, creative, missionary andversatile. Peter and Waterman (1982) offersix objective criteria to measure corporateexcellence: compound asset growth,compound equity growth, average ratio marketto book value, average return on total capital,average return on equity and average returnon sales. Fortune has adopted samesubjective criteria for measuring corporateexcellence: quality of management, qualityof products or services, innovation, value asa long-term investment, financial soundness,ability to attract, develop and keep talentedpeople, community and environmentalresponsibility (CSR), and use of corporateassets. Citibank Survey on Asia’s 200 leadingcorporations refer to the following criteria:quali ty of products and serv ices,innovativeness in responding to customerneeds, long-term management v ision,financial soundness and being a corporationworth emulating. On the basis of theseparameters, in India, HLL, Reliance and L &T come closer to the top. Excellentcorporations believe in bias for action,proximity to customers and learning fromthem, autonomy and entrepreneurship,productiv ity through people, hands-onexperience, value-driven management, stickto knitting, simple organization structure andsystems and lean staff at the corporateheadquarters, and simultaneous loose tightproperties. Khundwalla found out that theentrepreneurial mode of management (asopposed to the bureaucratic mode) wasassociated with excellent corporations in
India. It is called pioneering – innovative modeand is marked by commitment to novel,relatively sophisticated technologies, productsor services, risk-taking, creativ ity andinnovation, informality and adaptability.Maheswari also identified entrepreneurialorientation as an attribute of excellentcorporations; good at anticipating problems,trends and emergencies and quick inresponding to them; diagnosing weaknesses;making intuitively right decisions, commitmentto getting results and getting people excitedabout big goals (Dwivedy, 1998).
● Now the question is– what, then,constitutes corporate excellence? LatenWisdom from research agree that thereare six core factors which contribute tocorporate excellence and rule out thepossibilities for corporate failure in aglobally competitive turbulent environ-ment. These include : the changing rolesof new age top executives, managementby trust, focus on corporate corecompetence, managing changecreatively, putting people first and useof empowerment. HR functions areintegrated into mainstream businessstrategics– the human ride ofenterprises. How do we achievecorporate excellence? We could do itthrough good corporate governance.Corporate governance is the system bywhich organizations are directed andcontrolled. The corporate governancestructure specifies the distribution ofrights and responsibil i ties amongdifferent participants in the corporationsuch as board, managers, shareholders,and other stakeholders; and spells outthe rules and procedures for makingdecisions on corporate affairs. By doingthis, it also provides the structure through
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which the company objectives are setand means of attaining those objectivesand monitoring performance (OECD,1999). In 2003, Dr. Madhav Mehra,President, CFCG, India observed thatthere is an enormous increase in therhetoric on corporate governance. Mr.Higgs has fuelled a lively debate. Almosteveryone has a piece of advice. Thelatest is the revolt of FTSE 100 chiefs.The value of the report stems from thevery reasons, which have made FTSE100 chiefs oppose it .The competitiveadvantage comes today not fromconsensus but dissent, no from unitybut diversity. Mr. Higgs’ is a very wellresearched and reasoned document. Wenow hwy the top 10 countries with theleast disparity between men and womendo not include Britain. Less than 1% ofchairmen of UK listed companies arefemale. Only 4% of the executivedirector and 6% of non-executive directorposts are held by women. We alsoknow why there is lethargy of innovationin British industry and why there is amismatch between companyexpectations and customer aspirations.There is no clash of cultures that wouldsprout new ideas. Only 1% of non-executive directors are from black andethnic minorities and company boardsare tired. Average age of FTSE 100 non-executive directors is 59 with over 75%of them 55 or above while today’smarkets are being driven by customersin their teens and twenties. The goodthing about he recommendations is thatthere is less of box ticking and more ofuncommon practical sense. It adopts theprinciple of “comply or explain”.
It is now widely recognized that we donot need new legislation to improvegovernance. Existing laws are enough evenfor enforcement action as has beendemonstrated in the US. Eliot Spitzer, theNew York State Attorney General, who isfeared by corporate America more than evenBin Laden or Saddam Hussain, was able tonail down America’s iconic financial giantslike Citibank. Merryll Lynch and Credit SuisseFirst Boston in a far more effective mannerwithout the help of draconian Sarbanes Oxleylaws passed in July 2002. These investmentfirms were made to pay $1.4 billion in threetrenches in a historic settlement - $900m inpenalties, $450m to buy independent researchand $85 million for investor education. All weneed is will and determination in executionof what we preach.
To think that Enron, Worldcom, Vivendior Merryll Lynch are simply isolated caseswhere corporations have cheated the innocentpublic is to show evidence of extreme naivete.In an article in this issue, Dr. Ivor Francishas referred to a TV interview given by LynnTurner, Chief Accountant of the SEC from1998-2001 who was earlier a partner ofCoopers & Lybrand. She admitted on theAustralian TV, that all the Big Five accountingfirms helped Wall Street investment bankingfirms to engineer hypothetical transactionsto make companies look better than theyactually were. So, instead of bashing Enronwe should be grateful to it for throwing openthe murky world of corporate and publicmisgovernance. The nexus between the twois what breeds corruption. Today, it is theeconomic agenda that drives politics.Extensive growth in the power of variouslobbies had made governance failures thenorm rather than an exception. Deceit,translucence and greed have become the
The Social Engineer 57
hallmark of those controlling resources. EvenColumbia’s loss was a governance problem.Lessons of Challenger’s crash 17 years agowere ignored due to powerful contractors’lobby (Shankar, 2009).
As we dig deeper, it comes home to us,loud and clear, that the significant problemsthat we face today of poverty, inequality,deprivation, environmental degradation, theeconomy of bust and boom and even terrorismstem from the governance failures. The USand the UK governments are heading towardsa catastrophic war against Iraq regardless ofUN sanctions despite visceral opposition fromthose who elected them. Evidence can beplanted to suit designs. Mohammed al-Baradei, the head of the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA) told the SecurityCouncil on 7 March 2003 that British and USdocuments showing Iraq’s attempts tosmuggle uranium out of Niger were fake.
For corporate governance to succeed wehave to go through a profound metamorphosisfrom inside out. We have to change ourmetaphors of success from “winner takes all”and “success at all costs” to develop an innervalue system which prides on ethics, morality,equity, legitimacy, transparency, diversity andmost of all courage to own genuine failures.As Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. RowanWilliams said in the context of Iraq debate:“The key question is whether all parties tothe debate are being honest”. Good corporategovernance will be achieved not by rhetoricor legislation but honest execution of what isjust and fair. At the 3rd InternationalConference on corporate governance held atDelhi, Mr. M.S. Barga, Chairman, HLL, in hiskeynote address, observed that corporategovernance is not merely about rules,regulations, Boards, Committees, andcontrols. Its much more. Its about creating
out performing organizations. Organizationsthat consistently succeed in the market placeagainst competition. Organizations recognizethat they have more than just shareholdersas stakeholders (Pattnaik, 2011).
D.P. Samantaray, worming at ICFAI,Hyderabad writes in the famous journalproductivity (2003) that corporate governanceas practiced in India has as its primary goalthat optimization of the performance ofcorporate entities within the limitations placedon the corporate work environment by theintensity of investor aspirations on the onehand and the compulsions of public interestand situational constraints on the other.Corporate governance tries to enunciate theresponsibility of the Board of Directors andManagers, whether defined by the law or not,to ensure good performance and goodgovernance. All these observations facilitatethe idea of relating good corporate governanceto corporate excellence. In November, 2004,Tarun Narayam writes in Indian Management,that the finance function in India companiesis gradually becoming more strategic andless function oriented. Regulatory pressures,technology, and growing business risks aredriving the CFO to evolve into a partner of theCEO rather than just remain a functionalhead. In Larsen and Toubro, the CFO getsmore than information regarding balance sheetor P&L information. The CEO wants him togive his opinion on which business he shouldfocus on and why. At Electrolux KelvinatorIndia Ltd., the company has brought in anexternal CFO, to drive business change inthe organization. CFO, Paul Gelardi says thatthe focus of finance function has “changedfrom taking advantage of the low cost ofaccountants to investing in efficiencies”,including computerization of laborious bookkeeping activities. From a tough taskmaster
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and keeper of financial discipline, the CFO isnow a service provider. The CFO is taking ongreater accountability and authority. Apartfrom finance functions, he is responsible forconnecting capital market requirements withbusiness unit operations. As Peter Drucker,the management Guru pointed out, businesshas so far focused on the ‘T’ in ‘IT’. CFOsnow have to focus on the ‘I’ – actionableinformation. Milind Sarwate, CFO, MaricoIndustries, observes that the finance functionprovides an external reality check throughbenchmarking and a sanity check for overexuberant line management. S. Mahalingan,CFO, TCS, observes that, “apart fromregulation, there are market pressures fortransparency. That’s why we do quarterlyaccounts under US GAAP”.
The roles of financial professionals aregoing to change definitely and significantly.Probably, we cannot achieve corporateexcellence without very good corporategovernance. Unreality is the true source ofpowerlessness. What we do not understand,we cannot control. If you think, you can oryou can not, you are always right. Excellencecomes when a performer takes pride in doinghis best. Every job is a self-portrait of theperson who does it, regardless of what thejob is, whether it is washing cars, sweepingthe floor or painting a house. The futurebelongs to those who fuse intelligence withfai th, and, who with courage anddetermination grope their way forward fromchance to choice, from blind adaptation tocreative evolution. Those who believe incorporate excellence and good governancealso accept the idea that losers seek securityand winners seek only opportunities. IndianCorporate will have to rise to the challenge ofglobal competition for local talent andcompensation will play an important role
(Madhok, 2006). Let us influence withoutauthority.
Advances in behavioural science havemiles to go amidst a highly sensitive andresponsive technology driven humanenvironment. In India, there are 670 millionmobile users and 12 million new connectionsare added every month (Sebastian, December,2010). In China, the world’s most populouscountry, there are 800 million users. Manymillions of these users are members of thenew media. They can upload material on theirown within seconds on blogs, e-mails andsocial media sites like Face book. During alecture “Skyful of Lies”, at the Hay Festivalin Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala recently, thefamous BBC journalist Nik Gowing observedthat, on September 16, 2007,, the guards ofthe Black Water Private Security agency, whowere escorting a convey of us StateDepartment Officials, shot dead 17 unarmedIraqi Civilians including women and childrenat the Niassour Square in Baghdad.Unfortunately for black water, the shootingwas captured by on a mobile camera andposted soon after on the internet.
This 20-second video dealt a savage blowto Black water. This most secretive ofcompanies was forced into accountability bythe US Congress. As such, the mostimportant concern for the behaviouralscientists is strengthening sensibility towards‘Accountability’. Another important advancerelates to Geriatrics and Gerontology andHealth psychology. Since longevity hasincreased and health care and services haveimproved, people live for longer years, but donot know how to live life during these sunsetyears. Life is full of dreams, assumptionsand apprehensions. Behavioural science hasaccepted it as a challenge as well as aprofessional responsibility. If one observes the
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day care centre of Calcutta MetropolitanInstitute of Gerontology at EM Bypass runby Indrani Chakraborty, he/she would believein the words of John Parankimalil – He canwho thinks He can. People who can walk onwater know where the stones are. Theoptimist sees the rose and not its thorns,the pessimist stares at the thorns, obliviousof the rose. Beauty lies in the eyes of thebeholder. Behavioural scientists propose –let us influence without authority.
ReferencesBecker, W. M. (2006). Going from global trends
to corporate strategy. Indian Management,45, 11, 54-60.
Bem, A. J. (1960). Advances in SocialPsychology. New York: Bass
Davis, I., & Stephenson, E. (2006). Ten Trendsto Watch in 2006. Indian Management, 45,4, 62-66.
Dwivedi, R. S. (1998). Corporate Excellence:The Eternal Quest. McMillan India Ltd.
Festinger, L (1957) Social Psychology. New York:Harper and Row
Gupta, A. (2004). Indian Management, 43, 11, 96
Gupta, S. G. (2006). Social processes inorganizations. Psychological Studies, 4, 2,71–83
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Khera, S. (2004). You can win . SterlingPublishers Pvt. Lt.
King, M. L. Jr. (1968). The Trumpet ofConscience. New York, Harper & Row.
Madhok, A. (2006). Managing People Tomorrow.Indian Management, 35, 10, 64-68.
Madhok, A. (2006). Managing People Tomorrow.Indian Management, 45, 10, 64-71.
Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and Personality.New York: Harper and Row
Mc.Gregor, D. M. (1960). The human side ofenterprise. New York: McGraw Hill
Mehra, M. (2003). Editorial International Journalfor Corporate Governance, Volume 1.
Narayan, T. (2004).The New Super CFO. IndianManagement, 43, 11, 20-38.
Nayak, A. (2006). HRD in Public Sector. Ph.D.Thesis, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar,India
Nilekuni, N. (2006). Indian Management, 45, 4,96.
Pattnaik, J. B. (2011). Work Culture: A CriticalReview. Social Science International, 27,1, 31-37.
Peters, T., & Waterman, R. (1982). In Search ofExcellence, Harper & Row, Sydney
Rao, K. R. (2004). Are you rewarding right?Indian Management, 43, 1, 47-52.
Samantaray, D. P. (2003). Corporate Governancein India: Issues and ChallengesProductivity, 43, 4, 570-578.
Schachter, S. P. (1959). Social Psychology. NewYork: Harper and Row
Sebastian, P. (2010). Human behavior inorganizations. Indian Management, 46, 2,106 – 117
Seligmam, E. S. (1975). Learned helplessness.Harper and Row
Shankar, R. (2009). Redefining HR. IndianManagement, 48, 6, 47-57.
Sharma, R. (2003). Who will cry when you die?UK: Motilal Books.
Tofler, A. (1971). Future Shock. London: Penguin
Verma, Y. V. (2009). Get the Balance Right.Indian Management, 48, 7, 24-31.
Vroom, L. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. NewYork: John Wiley
n
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201260
PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE OFCOMMON MENTAL DISORDERS
A ReviewNalini Bikkina*
Abstract
Recent years, however have witnessed the gradual emergence of a multi-disciplinaryintegrated approach, combining the merits of the biological, psychological andsocial models of studying mental disorders. Estimates suggest that about 450million people alive today suffer from mental or neurological disorders or frompsychosocial problems. Among these, common mental disorders are the thirdmost frequent causes of morbidity in adults worldwide. These disorders manifestwith a mixture of somatic, anxiety and depressive symptoms. They are an importantcause of disability and pose a significant public health problem. This paperpresents a review of literature on the prevalence and demographic correlates ofCommon Mental Disorders from a psychosocial point of view.
Mental disorders can be studied at two levels: from the standpoint of knowledge abouthow the brain works, or from knowledge about how man behaves as a social animal. Theformer approach uses powerful new methods of enquiry deriving from molecular biology,neuropharmacology and immunochemistry, while the latter uses methods derived fromepidemiology and the social sciences. Some psychiatrists approach the subject as thoughthey need to know little more than the way in which cerebral functions can becomedisorganized during episodes of mental illness. At the other end of the spectrum are thosepsychotherapists and social workers who believe that abnormal behaviour can be whollyexplained in social and psychological terms, and who take little account of accumulatingknowledge about disordered cerebral function (Goldberg & Huxley, 1992).
The biological or medical approach views mental illness as if it were a disease orphysical defect in the brain or body. The psychological approach treats it as if it were asickness or abnormality in the mind or psyche. The sociological approach to mentaldisorder focuses on factors external to the individual – the environmental or social context–and views mental illness as a breakdown in the face of overwhelming environmental stress(Goldberg & Huxley, 1992).
* Assistant Professor of Applied Psychology, GITAM University, Visekhapatnam, Andra Pradesh,India. E-mail: [email protected]
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Following from this perspective, two broadmodels of mental illness have been envisaged.The bio-medical model views mental disorderas a disease or disease like entity that canbe treated through medical means. The bio-medical model or the disease model as itis also called makes four claims about mentaldisorder. First, it maintains that the causesof mental disorders are to be found indisturbances or abnormalities of biologicalstructures, functions or processes. Theseaberrations underlie and give rise tocharacteristic patterns of symptoms andsigns; they are, therefore to be identifiedby neuroscience and targeted by somatictreatments. Second, for each disorder thereis a specific aetiology, a single commonabnormality that determines the nature orform of the disorder. Third, disorders arediscrete categories such that affectedindividuals differ qualitatively from theunaffected. Fourth and finally, the diseasemodel implies that mental disorders are notdeeply culture or time-bound. Historical andcross-cultural variations are generally minorand incidental because the expressions ofmental disorders are primarily outgrowthsof biological processes (Haslam, 2000).
In contrast to the bio-medical model,advocates of the psychosocial model invokethe diverse influences that contribute todisorder, the many distinct causal pathwaysthat often lead to a particular clinicalsyndrome, the absence of disorders for whicha single necessary and sufficient cause hasbeen identified, the fact that few pathologicalmechanisms are understood in adequateprecision and the lack of definitive biologicalmarkers for any disorder (Meehl, 1977, 1995).They point to the evidence of cultural andhistorical variations in psychiatric phenomena,
the role of social factors in shaping thesevariations and the existence of culturallyspecific conditions (Haslam, 2000).
A major sociological contribution to thestudy of mental disorder has been to pinpointand describe the most significant socio-demographic factors in determining the socialcharacteristics of who is most likely tobecome mentally ill and the type of mentaldisorder most prevalent in a particular socialgroup (Cockerham, 1989).
Recent years, however have witnessedthe gradual emergence of a multi-disciplinaryintegrated approach, combining the meritsof each model. These approaches have beenlabeled as bio-social (Goldberg & Huxley,1992), bio-psycho-social (Dennerstein,Astbury & Morse, 1993) or socio-cognitive(Davar & Bhat, 1995). Thus, although mentalillness can be categorized and diagnosed,they most often are found in constellationsthat bind together biological forces, socialconditions, cultural responses, the individualpsyche and particular illness forms.
Engel (1977) claims that orthodox bio-medical model is reductionist. Psychologicaland social factors account for some of thephenomena of each illness, determine whetheror not a person with the defect considersthat they are ill, help to determine the courseof each illness, and form a notable part ofthe treatment offered. The bio-psycho-socialmodel constitutes a plea for the inclusionof social and psychological factors in ourformulations about human disorders (Goldberg& Huxley, 1992).
The revolution in public health with itsimpact on the preventive and promotiveaspects of mental health and the revolutionin psychiatry recognizing the socio-cultural
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factors in mental health problems have ledto certain researches which attempt toexamine individuals with potential mentalhealth risks and the role of psychosocialfactors associated with mental healthproblems (Satyavathi, 1988).
Epidemiological studies have linkedmental disorder to social malaise andeconomic recession (Cockerham, 1989). Theexplanatory models of persons suffering fromcommon mental disorders have beendescribed in a number of studies, in all ofwhich poverty and socioeconomic problemshave been cited as one of the most importantfactors causing emotional distress (Robert,Catalano & Wilson 1994; Patel et al. 1995;Patel et al. 1998; Melzer, Fyers, & Jenkins,2004). Recent cross-sectional population-based studies also for instance, haveconsistently shown that rising inequalitiesand income disparities that are a fall out ofeconomic liberalization policies being pursuedin sev eral countries place social lydisadvantaged populations at significantlygreater risk of CMD (Patel & Kleinman, 2003;Patel, Kirkwood, Pednekar, Weiss, & Mabey,2006).
From the socio-pathological perspective,over the past few decades many maladiesl ike crime, mental disorders, fami lydisorganization, juvenile delinquency,alcoholism and drug abuse and much thatnow passes as the result of pathologicalprocesses (Frank, 1936) have beenconsidered as indicative of sick societiesimplying thereby the inadequacies or failuresof social controls or social norms in givensocieties. Recent developments such as thenew economic policies being followed sincethe neo-liberal economic reforms launchedsince the 1990s, the widening socio-economic
disparities that they are found to haveunleashed in the process (Dev, 2007), thegradual erosion of traditional and communitynorms in interpersonal relationships and theemergence of newer diseases such as HIVhave had varying impacts on the psychosocialhealth of people (Barua, 2009). The recentphenomenon of farmers’ suicides in India,despite their variation of specific trends andcorrelates from state to state, is a starki llustration of the impact of f inancialinsecurities resulting from inability of thesmall-scale farmer to cope with the economicchallenges of rapid globalization (Galab,Vindhya & Revathi, 2010). Thus theimportance of the role of social factors inmany mental health problems becomes clear(Satyavathi, 1988).
Estimates suggest that about 450 millionpeople alive today suffer from mental orneurological disorders or from psychosocialproblems such as those related to alcoholand drug abuse. Major depression is nowthe leading cause of disability globally andranks fourth in the ten leading causes ofthe global burden of disease. Projectionshave also been made that within the next20 years, depression will have the dubiousdistinction of becoming the second causeof the global disease burden. The recentWHO report “Investing in Health Researchand Development” predicts that depressionwill be the single most important cause ofdisability by the year 2020 in the developingworld (WHO, 1995). Globally 70 millionpeople suffer from alcohol dependence. Amillion people commit suicide every year.Between ten and 20 million people attemptit. The social and economic burden of mentalillness is thus enormous (WHO, 2001). Mentaldisorders are a major contributor to the global
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burden of disease, and along with HIV/AIDS,cancer, and cardiovascular disease arecurrently said to be the four leading illnessesin the world. In terms of ill health anddisability, the impact of poor mental healthis even greater, producing considerabledisabil ity and diminished productiv ity(WHO, 2005).
Common Mental Disorders was a termcoined by Goldberg and Huxley (1992, pp.7-8) to describe “disorders which arecommonly encountered in communitysettings, and whose occurrence signals abreakdown in normal functioning”. CommonMental Disorders, the new incarnation ofneuroses, have been classified in ICD 10 intwo main categories: Neurotic, Stress-relatedand Somatoform Disorders with a numberof subcategories and Mood Disorders (withspecific reference to unipolar depression).A simpler classification of these disordershas been devised for use in primary healthcare (Ustun, Goldberg, Cooper, Simon &Sartorius, 1995) as follows –
F32 Depression
F40 Phobic disorder
F41.0 Panic Disorder
F41.1 Generalized Anxiety
F41.2 Mixed anxiety and depression
F43 Adjustment disorder
F44 Dissociative disorder
F45 Unexplained somatic symptoms
F48 Neurasthenia
F51 Sleep problems
These disorders manifest with a mixtureof somatic, anxiety and depressive symptoms.However, undue partit ioning of these
categories of disorders ignores theircommonalities (Kroenke, 2000). Severalstudies hav e described the cl inicalpresentations of these disorders in generalhealth care settings. The commonestcomplaints are somatic, in particular tirednessand weakness, mul t iple aches andpains, dizziness, palpitations and sleepdisturbances (Chaturvedi, Upadhyaya & Rao,1988; Ebigbo, Janaki ramaiah &Kumaraswamy, 1989; Patel, Pereira & Mann,1998; Srinivasan & Suresh, 1990). However,these are distress states with non-somaticaetiology (Patel, Pereira, Coutinho &Fernandes, 1997).
Common mental disorders are the thirdmost frequent causes of morbidity in adults(prevalence rates) worldwide (WHO, 1995).They are an important cause of disabilityand pose a significant public health problem(Ormel, Von Korff, Ustun, Pini, Korten &Oldehinkel, 1994). The warning of a mountingcrisis of unmet needs for the countlessmillions with such disorders have beenbuilding up over the past 20 years.
Epidemiological research has untilcomparatively recently concentrated on thepredominantly psychotic illnesses, sincepatients in this group tend to receive in-patient treatment at some stage of theirillness, and can therefore fairly easily becounted (Malzberg, 1940; Odegaard, 1946;Norris, 1959). Furthermore, the NationalMental Health Programme (NMHP, introducedin 1982) in India also prioritizes the severemental disorders: psychoses, epilepsy andmental retardation. Such a prioritization isdue to the exclusive reliance of the NMHPon the bio-medical approach. Although these
Source: Patel, V. (1999). Common mental disorders in South Asia. NIMHANS Journal, 17(4), 308.
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disorders, their symptoms are stable andrespond immediately to psychiatr icmedication. The dominant modes of therapy– electro conv ulsiv e therapy andchemotherapy also follow from the bio-medicalapproach. This has resulted in a range ofnon-psychotic complaints not being identifiedas disorders and not receiving relevanttreatment (Davar, 1999). Even in severe chronicdisorders such as schizophrenia and bipolardisorder, only half of people have any contactwith a professional during a year (Wang,Demler & Kessler, 2002).
In the past 15 years psychiatricepidemiologists have begun to concentrateon attempts to measure the prevalence ofcommon mental disorders in the community(Essen-Moller, 1956; Hagnell, 1966; Leighton,1959; Srole, Langner, Michael, Opler, &Rennie, 1962). However, as most patientswith these conditions do not receive hospitaltreatment, this has posed problems ofidentifying and defining the various diseaseentities as they exist in the population thathas not come into contact with the psychiatricservices (Goldberg, 1972).
Evidence of a high prevalence ofcommon mental disorders has beengenerated from a range of settings in lowand middle-income countries, primary healthclinics and the urban general practices (Araya,Wynn, Leonard & Lewis, 1994; Hollifield,Katon, Spain & Pule, 1990; Shamasundar,Krishna Murthy, Prakash, Prabhakar &Subbakrishna, 1986). It has been reportedthat between one-fourth to one-third of allpatients who availed general medicalservices, did not have clear physical or organicillness but were suffering from predominantly
psychological or emotional problems oftenexpressed in somatic terms (Verma, 1988).
Studies have reported that around 20-50 percent of all patients in PHC settingshav e CMD and are associated withconsiderable morbidity such as psychosocialdisability, reduced productivity, economic andpsychological costs both for the affectedand their caregivers (Patel, 2005; Shankar,Saravanan, & Jacob, 2006; Miranda & Patel,2005). Most of these patients are seen byclinic-based primary care physicians or ingeneral hospital outpatient clinics andemergency rooms. The physicians aregenerally accessible, need no referral, andare often initially contacted by persons whoare distressed but not aware of the natureof their problem. Others are treated in theoffices of specialists in family practice orinternal medicine. What is indicated here isthat the majority of persons with mentaldifficulties is not treated by psychiatrists,nor are they treated in the specialty mentalhealth sector. Instead, they are treated mostlyby physicians other than psychiatrists(Cockerham, 1989).
Psychologically distressed persons tendto see their overall health status in relationto their distress and thus have a negativeview of their general health (Tessler &Mechanic, 1978). They thus consult theirdoctor although they of ten do so forassociated physical symptoms that arecausing them distress (Goldberg & Huxley,1992). Often, psychiatric problems willinfluence or prolong physical problems. Inthe Indian setting too, somatic symptomsare predominantly reported (Kapur, Kapur &Carstairs, 1974).
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Common Mental Disorders inGeneral Medical Settings
One of the commonest sorts ofpsychologically distressed patients seen ingeneral medical settings is a patient who iscomplaining of somatic symptoms for whichthere is either no apparent cause, or wherethe severity of the somatic symptom isgreater than would be expected from anyphysical disease that is present. Suchpatients do not consider that they arepsychologically ill, but they will describeenough psychological symptoms to justify adiagnosis of mental disorder. These patientshave been described as somatizers, and theyhave been shown to constitute the commonestkind of new psychological disorder seen inthese settings (Bridges & Goldberg, 1987).Somatization al lows those who areunsympathetic to the idea of mental disorderto occupy the sick-role while they are understress, and the fact that they do not feelresponsible for their predicament may accountfor the fact that they do not blame themselvesfor being unwell (Goldberg & Huxley, 1992).
Psychological problems in general healthcare settings constitute a major public healthproblem. Research suggests thatapproximately 15 per cent of all patients seenby physicians have mental disorders (Regier,Goldberg & Taube, 1977). Another estimateargues that in India 20 to 30 million people(about 20-30 per cent of the population)appear to need some form of mental healthcare and that morbidity on account of mentalillness is set to overtake cardiovasculardiseases as the single largest health risk by2010 (Chatterjee, 2009). Other researchsuggests that approximately 20% of generalhealth care attenders suffer from a well-definedmental disorder – 40% if minor (sub-threshold)
disorders are included (Penayo, Kullgren &Caldera, 1990). About one in three adultsattending primary or general health carefacilities suffer from clinically significant non-psychotic psychiatric illness (Patel, 2003).Conditions such as adjustment disorders andpsychophysiological disorders such asinsomnia and tension headache account forover a quarter of cases seen by family doctors(Goldberg & Huxley, 1992).
Despite previous assumptions that theseproblems were self-limiting and benign, morerecent studies have shown that aconsiderable proportion are chronic and areassociated with both substantial disability(Broadhead, Blazer, George, & Tse, 1990;Wells et al., 1989) and increased utilizationof health-care (Katon et al., 1990; Von Korff,Ormel, Katon & Lin, 1992). Despite thepersonal and social costs of these disorders,most people with potentially remediablemental disorders are not treated (Regier etal., 1993; Sartorius et al., 1990).
The WHO Multinational Study of theprevalence, nature and determinants ofcommon mental disorders in general medicalcare settings was conducted in 14 countries(Ustun et al., 1995). The study showed thatthough the prevalence of mental disordersacross the sites varied considerably, theresults clearly demonstrate that a substantialproportion (about 24%) of all patients in thesesettings had a mental disorder. The mostcommon diagnoses in primary care settingsare depression, anxiety and substance abusedisorders. These disorders are present eitheralone or in addition to one or more physicaldisorders. There are no consistent differencesin prevalence between developed anddeveloping countries. Indeed, the onlysimilarities across centers were the general
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observations of the ubiquity of common mentaldisorders, the comorbidity of anxiety anddepression, and the association of commonmental disorders and disability even afteradjustment for physical disease severity. Onthe other hand, specific variables showedsubstantial variations; thus the prevalencerates of common mental disorders rangedfrom 7% to 52% of attenders; physicianrecognition of common mental disorders variedfrom 5% to nearly 60% and the associationof key variables such as gender, physical ill-health and education with common mentaldisorders were in opposite directions indifferent centers. These findings demonstratethe need for locally relevant studies withlocally validated methodologies whose aimis to identify local needs and inform localhealth services (Patel & Winston, 1994).
Reviewing field studies in India, Wig(1981) has reported that while the seriousmental illness were between 10 to 20 per1,000, minor mental illnesses varied between20 to 100 per 1,000. There are wide regionalvariations. Also, most epidemiological studieshave concentrated on prevalence rateestimations, rarely examining the role of riskfactors.
Studies on the Prevalence Rates ofCommon Mental Disorders in India
Krishnamurthy, Shamasundar, Prakashand Prabhakar (1981) did an epidemiologicalstudy of those visiting the General Practitionerin an urban area of Karnataka and reporteda prevalence of 36% of common mentaldisorders. Bagadia, Ayyar, Lakdawala,Susainathan and Pradhan (1985) reported aprevalence of 57% from an urban GeneralHealth Clinic in Maharashtra. A prevalence of36% was reported from a General Practitioner
in an urban area of Karnataka (Shamasundaret al., 1986). Banerjee, Sinha, Mukerjee andSen (1987) explored common mentaldisorders in a group of referred cases withsomatic symptoms, using the General HealthQuestionnaire-36. Anxiety neurosis was morecommon among patients who were ill for lessthan six months; depression was morecommon among patients who were ill for morethan one year. Patients with common mentaldisorders frequently present with nonspecificsomatic complaints apparently because thenonspecific symptoms occur together withequally prominent emotional symptoms.Patients report the nonspecific somaticsymptoms and not the emotional symptoms.
Srinivasan and Suresh (1991) describedthe development of a screening method forthe detection of common mental morbidity,based only on nonspecific symptoms, whichcould be easily incorporated into the routineini tial cl inical work-up of a patient.Channabasavanna, Sriram and Kumar (1995)sampled urban visitors to a General HealthClinic in Karnataka and reported a prevalenceof 24%. From a General Health Clinic inurban Gujarat a study by Amin, Shah andVankar (1998) reported a prevalence of 21%.
An interesting study compares theprevalence of common mental disordersamongst persons from the Indian sub-continent living in the UK with the prevalencein their siblings still living in India. The authorsreport dif ferences in prevalence ratesaccording to religious group for the subjectsin the UK (the highest rates being amongstMuslims and lowest amongst Sikhs) but nodifference in rates between UK and India-based populations was found even thoughstressors were more common and severe inthe latter group (Creed et al., 1999).
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The literature reviewed thus far points tothe definite need for more sustained effortsin research and policy on the effectivestrategies for integrating the management ofcommon mental disorders into routine generalhealth care. While there is a considerablebody of ev idence f rom the W estdemonstrating the efficacy of antidepressantsand problem solving for non-psychotic illness,it is unlikely that these findings can be appliedto the Indian setting. Cultural factors mayinfluence the acceptability of interventions, inparticular psychological interventions (Sethi& Trivedi, 1982; Patel, 2000). Many, if notmost, people in society are poorly informedabout mental illness, and stigma pervadesall social, political and economic domainsassociated with mental health care (Draine,Salzer & Culhane et al., 2002). Campaignsexist to stamp out stigma, however their reachhas been relatively limited (National Alliancefor the Mentally Ill, 2002). Health policy ismostly influenced by local research andhence there is an urgent need for reliabledata on prev alence and pat tern ofpsychological distress in general and primaryhealth care settings.
While governments do spend on publicmental health services, recent estimates ofeconomic and social burdens associated withuntreated or improperly treated psychiatricproblems are several fold larger (Sederer &Clemens, 2002). According to the WHO(2001) guidelines, the mental health ofcommunities should be monitored by includingmental health indicators in health informationand reporting systems. Such monitoring helpsto determine trends and to detect mentalhealth changes resulting from external events,such as disasters. New indicators for themental health of communities are necessary.Such an exercise is needed in this country.
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n
The Social Engineer 71
CONTEXT SENSITIVITYAS A FACTOR OF
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOURSudha Rani Sinha*
Abstract
Two hundred final year management and engineering students predicted howthree hypothetical managers having the same educational background are likelyto behave in the autocratic, competitive, and (people & performance) integrativeorganizational settings in order to succeed faster than others. The findingsshowed that the manager in an autocratic organization is likely to manipulate andappease his superiors, he would work hard and excel others in a competitiveorganization, and he would think well of the organization, innovate, and helpother managers in the integrative organization. The results thus confirmed thedetermining role of context on human behaviour.
Introduction
Traditionally, the dominant paradigm in psychological research had a core assumptionthat individuals behave as a function of their dispositions, abilities, attitudes, and habits.That is, human behaviour is determined primarily by person based factors. Kurt Lewin(1943) refuted this contention by advancing a formula that human behaviour is a jointfunction of the factors residing in person as well as environment. Individuals do not functionin a vacuum. There is always a context, a field, or an environment in which they arelocated. There are field forces that impinge on them that along with their personal characteristicsshape how they think, feel, and behave. Kurt Lewin did not specify the relative impact ofthe person and context based factors on behaviour. Later, Mischel (1968) argued thatcontextual factors overwhelm and determine behaviour. But Epstein (1979) found thatindividuals do manifest stable differences in their general behavioural trends, if behaviouralobservations are aggregated across situations. Thus, he argued in favour of person-based
* ASSERT Institute of Management StudiesEmails: [email protected]
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factors. The controversy still goes on whetheror in which conditions, either personal-basedor environmental factors over-ride the otherto have greater impact on human behaviour.
Now it is widely accepted that culturemediates in the roles of person-based andenvironmental factors. While most of thepeople in an individualist culture do whatthey want to do, follow their own likes anddislikes, and aspire to achieve their personalgoals, those in a collectivist culture tend toconform to social norms, surrender their likingand disliking to the wishes of their ingroup,and sacrifice their personal goals in favourof their collective’s goals (Triandis, 1995).As a result, collectivist cultures are knownto be high on context sensitivity (Hall, 1981).People in high context sensitive culturesare more receptive to cues from physicalas well as cultural contexts and respond tothem to more promptly than the people oflow context sensitivity cultures. Indian cultureis reported to be collectivist (Hofstede, 1980;Sinha & Verma, 1987) and hence high oncontext sensitivity (Roland, 1988; Sinha &Kanungo, 1997). People in the low contextsensitive cultures, according to Roland, areguided by abstract universalistic principleswhile Indians have radar like sensitivity tosense the expectations and demands of thevarious contexts and behave in particularisticways to suit the persons they are dealingwith considering what is appropriate at theplace and the circumstances.
Contexts vary in the strength of theirdemands on the individuals working in themas well as in their structural componentswhich are desh (place), patra (person), andkal (time) (Sinha, in press). The structuralcomponents are generally inter-related andcan have a composite impact on individuals.
Work organizations are generally strongcontexts having well defined norms, routines,and sanctions for deviations than the othersocial contexts at large where there couldbe forces and counter forces, diverse anddiscrepant norms, and escape routes ofgetting away with violations of norms (Sinha,2008). As individuals join a work organization,they enter into a formal as well as informalcontract to subscribe to the goals, the normsand the routines of the organization evenby suppressing their feelings, thoughts, habits,interests, and goals that they found areincongruent with those of their organization.Both the organization and its members tryto align with each other, but the onus is onthe members to fall in line and serve theinterests of the organization and help it realizeits objectives and goals. Those memberswho are able to align are like to succeedfaster than others. Al igning with theorganization requires that individuals behavein the way that is congruent with theorganizational culture.
Work organizations are different anddiverse having different cultural configurations.As Indian economy is getting globalized andmany multi-national organizations are cominginto India while many Indian organizationsare getting global, the organizationallandscape of the country is changing fastand getting differentiated (Sinha, 1999). Thetraditional ones that were family owned arestill persisting in many cases. The largeramong them were highly bureaucratic, butnow are changing fast following the modelof multinational organizations. Governmentbureaucracy is also changing, fast in some,but not so fast in other cases. Multinationalsare entering into the Indian market in a largenumber. Indian companies are also getting
The Social Engineer 73
global. Another model of an integrative type(e.g., Infosys) is emerging that that combinesthe people oriented values and the valuesof high performance. Sinha and Pandey (2007)identified three major ones: Traditional,multinational, and integrative. They foundthat the nature of the organizations and themindset of the managers working in themwere meaningfully related. For example,materialistic mindset was associated withmultinational organizations, dependent proneor collectivistic mindset with family owned,bureaucratic, and or traditional organizations,and a constel lat ion of personal izedrelationships, abstract thinking, emotionality,rationali ty, and spi r i tual i ty wi th theorganizations that valued both performanceand people. A central theme in the familyowned, bureaucratic and t radi t ionalorganization is the autocratic nature of themanagement and leadership incorporatingpersonal loyalty, emphasis on discipline andprocedures, control and command of thesuperior that does not relish deviations andpersonal discretion to individual members.Multinationals, on the other hand, zero inon efficiency, performance based rewards,competitiveness, and so on. They can becalled competitive. Integrative organizationvalues excellence in work, systems that canfacilitate performance, but also care andconsideration for the employees, their growth,and personal interests.
The present study aimed to examinewhether the managers having a similareducational background will behave differentlyin the three (Autocratic, Competitive, andIntegrative) organizations aligning their waysof behaviour with their demands in order tosucceed faster than other members of theorganization.
MethodSample
Care was taken to select a sample ofrespondents who were likely to have a realisticappreciation for the issue at hand. Hence,200 management and engineering studentswere individually approached for the surveywith the help of a questionnaire. Fifty percent(50.70%) of them were from the final yearsof the Master of Business Administration(MBA) courses, 31.80 percent from theBachelor of Technology (BTech), and theremaining 17.40 percent were doing PostGraduate Diploma in Management (PGDM).The average age of the participants was23.12 (SD = 2.06) years having the rangeof 19 to 32 years. Overwhelming majority ofthem (87.10%) had no work experience;the remaining ones had work experience of1 to 5 years. The majority (76.10%) weremales.
Measures
A questionnaire consisting of three partswas developed. Part 1 had three scenariosin which three bio-tech engineers, who joinedthree different pharmaceutical companies,were depicted to behave in 10 ways. Therespondents had to rate the likelihood ofeach of their behaviour in helping them tosucceed faster than others. Part 2 enquiredthe demographical background of therespondents. Part 3 had 15 statements, fiveeach assessing whether the respondentswere socially oriented, success driven, ormaterially minded. The purpose was to checkthe confounding, if any, effects of therespondents’ personal orientations inpredicting the behaviour of the hypotheticalbio-tech managers. The details of themeasures are as follows:
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Part 1 described three young men,Ashok, Binod, and Chandra, who were bornand brought up in the same city andgraduated from the same bio-technologycollege in Banglore. The college was highlyprestigious. They were hired by threepharmaceutical companies: Biometrics PrivateLimi ted, Pharmaceutics India, andPharmatrics Lab – all located in differentregions of Maharashtra in India.
1. Biometrics Private Limited(Competitive). Ashok joined BiometricsPrivate Limited located near Nasik. Itis an upcoming company that, in courseof just 10 years, has made a mark inthe industry. It has been growing atabove 20 per cent annually. The strengthof the company lies in the hugeinvestment in its R&D that has the bestavailable laboratory, infrastructure, brightyoung bio-tech engineers, and highlydemanding management. The Companyre-engineers some of the most populardrugs in a way that avoids patentsrestr ict ions and market themaggressively through out the countryat cheaper rates. The Company paysthe R&D engineers well above the marketrate, but a major part of it is given asdifferent amounts of bonus and personalperks depending on how well theindividual bio-tech engineers perform.As a result the best performing onesget much more than others and the poorperformers are fired on some pretext.
2. Pharmaceutics India (Integrative).Binod joined Pharmaceutics India locatednear Pune. It is a high reputationcompany that has maintained stableprofit recording above 20 per cent growthannually. The Company is well known
for producing generic drugs that areparticularly effective for tropical diseasesand can be afforded by poor people.The Company maintains high standardsof services and ethical practices. It hiresbright young bio-engineers, providesthem with guidance and support, offersthem stock options in order to get thema sense of ownership in the Company,and expects them to give their best.There are regular refresher courses forall, and intensive training programmesfor low performing employees. It doesnot believe in firing anyone except forunethical and rowdy behaviour. Theatmosphere in the Company is friendly,informal, and transparent. The ManagingDirector takes personal interest in thewell-being of employees and maintainsan open door policy.
3. Pharmatrics Lab (Autocratic). Chandrajoined the Pharmatrics Lab, Which islocated in Thane near Mumbai. It is anold Company that was established inlate fifties because of the governmentpolicy to encourage pharmaceuticalcompanies in India. It has beenproducing standard drugs that peoplehave been taking since long. The profitas well as the growth rate is modest.The factory is old and needs renovationand new equipment. The ManagingDirector demands strict discipline, goodbehaviour, and loyalty of the employees.He personally selects senior managersafter carefully checking their previouswork experience and personal records.The younger managers are selected bypersonal interviews. The ManagingDirector spends a lot of time with hissenior managers directing that they too
The Social Engineer 75
follow his style of management. Theemployees remain punctual, keepthemselves busy and aloof from others,and perform their job as directed bytheir boss. They keep their grievancesto themselves.
The 10 behaviours that the respondentswere asked to rate pertained to manipulation,competitiveness, helpful, and innovation. Theywere the following: To think good of hisCompany, go out of the way to impress hissuperiors, work hard to show bet terperformance to make more money thanothers, work very sincerely considering it aduty, manipulate records to show his betterperformance, come up with innovative ideasfor the benefit of the company, help hiscolleagues complete their work, visit hissuperiors at his home, ignore his family andwork over time, and compete to run othersdown. Each of them was rated on a 4-pointscale with a range of Most Unlikely (1),Unlikely (2), Likely (3), & Most Likely (4).In order to minimize the response set, thescores for the anchor points were randomlyreversed in half of the cases. For theanalysis, however, the reversed scores werereversed again rendering higher scores meanmore likely to help the manager succeed..
Part 2 enquired about the age, gender,years of work experience if any, and whetherthe participants belonged to the MBA, BTech,or PGDP courses.
Part 3 had 15 statements designed tomeasure respondents being Success Driven,Socially Concerned, or Internally Oriented.Two examples each of them were thefollowing:
Success Driven: I never miss anyopportunity & I can do anything to succeedin life.
Socially Concerned: I never offendothers & I always help someone in trouble.
Internally Oriented: I listen to my innervoice to decide what I must do & I do myduty even when others neglect theirs.
Each survey took about 30 minutes.Data were col lected from January toMarch, 2011
Results
As the same respondents predicted thelikelihood of 10 behaviours of three managersin three– autocratic, competitive, andintegrative – organizational settings, a Within-subject design of the analysis of variancewas attempted with a view to see if theorganizational effects were statisticallysignificant. Three organizations were discreetlydifferent. Hence, quadratic effects wereexpected to be significant. In order to checkwhether the personal orientations of therespondents contaminated their ratings,respondents’ average scores on theirorientation of being socially concerned,success driven, and conscientious wereentered as the covariants in the analysis ofvariance. The covariants were found tocontribute insignificantly either to the mainor interaction effects of the organizations(p>.05), except in a very few cases thatcould be due to chance. The zero ordercorrelations between the three personalorientations with 10 managerial behavioursin three organizations were only mildlysignificant (p<.05) in 13 out of 90 (13.33%)coefficients. Hence, they were dropped outof further analyses. The findings of theanalysis of variance were reported inTable-1.
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Table 1
Significance of Effects of Organizations on Managers’ Behaviour
Behaviour Sources Effect MS F p
Org Linear 1.95 4.48 .041. Think good of Quadratic 14.45 7.78 .01
his Company. Error Linear .44Quadratic 1.86
Org Linear .30 .51 .472. Go out of the way Quadratic 8.80 14.78 .00
to impress his superiors. Error Linear .59Quadratic .60
3. Work hard to show better Org Linear 5.731 9.150 .003
performance to make Quadratic 1.910 4.421 .037
more money than others. Error Linear .626Quadratic .432
Org Linear 1.81 4.73 .034 Work very sincerely Quadratic 2.16 6.74 .01
considering it a duty. Erro r Linear .38Quadratic .32
Org Linear .06 .10 .765. Manipulate records to Quadratic 8.13 17.85 .00
show his better performance. Error Linear .64Quadratic .46
6. Come up with innovative Org Linear 8.08 17.12 .00
ideas for the benefit of Quadratic 6.28 15.71 .00
the company. Error Linear .47Quadratic .40
Org Linear .16 .30 .587. Help his colleagues Quadratic 24.53 56.52 .00
complete their work. Error Linear .53Quadratic .43
Org Linear .64 1.10 .298. Visit his superiors Quadratic .96 2.27 .13
at his home. Error Linear .58Quadratic .42
Org Linear .02 .05 .829. Ignore his family Quadratic 2.16 5.55 .02
and work over time. Error Linear .43Quadratic .39
Org Linear 3.05 5.32 .0210. Compete to run Quadratic 8.46 15.76 .00
others down. Error Linear .57
Quadratic .54
Note: df = 1/198 for both Linear and Quadratic Effects.
The Social Engineer 77
Contrary to the expectations, Table 1 disclosed that the linear effects on four weremildly (p<0.05) and on one were highly (p<0.001) significant. This indicated that, despitebeing discrete, three organizational settings did reflect in some cases increasing shadesof being positive with respect to four managerial behaviours. Quadratic effects were highly(p<0.001) significant regarding seven behaviours and mildly (p<0.05) significant with respectto two behaviours. There was only one behaviour that did not show significant quadraticeffect (p>0.05). The mean scores and Standard Deviations revealed the pattern of differencesin Table-2.
Table-2 was examined to understand the implications of the significant linear andquadratic effects on the managerial behaviours. Of five behaviours manifesting significantlinear effects, the three had the following order: Autocratic < Competitive < Integrative. Inthe remaining two, it was Autocratic < Integrative< Competitive. In other words, autocraticwas least endorsed, but competitive and integrative had edge over each other dependingon the relevance of the five behaviours.
Table 2
Mean & SD of Manager’s Behaviour in Different Organizations
Manager’s Behaviour Organizations
Autocratic Competitive Integrative
1. Think good of his Company. X 3.15 3.29 3.55SD .79 .65 1.57
2. Go out of the way to X 2.76 2.81 2.53impress his superiors. SD .91 .91 .99
3. Work hard to show better performance X 3.09 3.33 3.09to make more money than others. SD .82 .80 .83
4. Work very sincerely considering X 3.31 3.45 3.51it a duty. SD .72 .767 .672
5. Manipulate records to show X 2.79 2.77 2.53his better performance. SD .93 .954 1.068
6. Come up with innovative ideas X 3.18 3.47 3.54for the benefit of the company. SD .84 .721 .685
7. Help his colleagues complete X 2.82 2.86 3.27their work. SD .79 .883 .705
8. Visit his superiors at his home. X 2.51 2.43 2.38SD .88 .840 .841
9. Ignore his family and work over time. X 1.99 2.00 1.87SD .837 .851 .796
10. Compete to run others down. X 2.57 2.74 2.40SD .957 .902 .939
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In order to make sense of the quadraticeffects, the modal behaviours were identifiedfor autocratic, competitive, and integrativeorganizations. It was found that autocraticorganization encouraged the manager tomanipulate records to show his betterperformance and to visit his superiors athis home. Competitive organization inducedthe manager to go out of the way to impresshis superiors, work hard to show betterperformance to make more money thanothers, ignore his family and work over time,and even to run others down. Integrativeorganization made the manager to think goodof his Company, work very sincerelyconsidering it a duty, come up with innovativeideas for the benefit of the company, andhelp his colleagues complete their work.Obviously, the three organizations werepredicted to foster behaviours that werecongruent to their nature in order that themanagers can evoke them for their fastersuccess.
Discussion and ConclusionThe hypothetical managers in the three
organizational scenarios were born andbrought up at the same place, which meansthat their primary socialization was similarthat in turn can be presumed to lend themsomewhat similar dispositions. Further, theygot their bachelor’s degree in bio-technologyfrom the same college, which was aprestigious one. The educational experiencefrom the same college that, because of beingprestigious, can also be presumed toinculcate in them a modern model ofmanagement that is generally based on globalmanagement practices. Thus, both theprimary and secondary socialization mighthave formed a similar personal dispositions,
beliefs, and attitudes. However, once theywere placed in autocratic, competitive, andintegrative organizations, they were subjectedto different organizational demands, althoughall three of them were pharmaceuticalcompanies located in the same State inIndia. Thus, three sets of factors wereconstant, namely, the place of birth andgrowing up, college of education, thepharmaceutical nature of the companies theyjoined. The only different was the nature oforganizational demands. The autocraticcompany subscribed to the control andcommand type of management, personalloyalty, and submissiveness. The competitiveorganization paid for performance, providedadequate infrastructure, and created a culturewhere managers can compete with eachother and earn more and more money. TheIntegrative organization expected managersto give their best, excel in performance, butalso took care of the growth of the employees.
The differences in organizational cultureshad significant impact on the kinds ofbehaviours that the managers believed canhelp them succeed faster than others. Thus,their instrumental to success behaviours werecongruent with their organizational ethos.The manager in an autocratic organizationwas likely to manipulate records to showhis better performance and visit his superiorsat his home, probably with the purpose tocultivate personalized relationships that, hehoped, might help him in his career progress.The manager in the competitive organizationwas likely to go out of the way to impresshis superiors, by working hard to show betterperformance to make more money thanothers, ignore his family and work over time,and compete to run others down. The
The Social Engineer 79
manager in the integrative organization waslikely to think good of his Company, workvery sincerely considering it a duty, comeup with innovative ideas for the benefit ofthe company, and help his colleaguescomplete their work.
The findings thus clearly supported Sinhaand his associates (Sinha, in press; Sinha& Kanungo, 1997; Sinha et al., 2001) thatIndians are influenced more by their contextsthan by their personal dispositions andattitudes. The study also indicated thatrespondents’ predictions of the successoriented behaviours of the hypotheticalmanagers were not coloured by their ownperson orientation such as social concern,striving to success, and conscientiousness.This shows the methodological superiorityof investing social phenomena through theuse of scenarios rather than asking directquestions that are likely to attract sociallydesirable responses (Sinha, 2010).
ReferencesEpstein, S. (1979). The stability of behavior: On
predicting most of the people much of thetime. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 37, 1097–1126.
Hall, E. T. (1981). Beyond culture. New York:Doubleday.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences:International differences in work relatedvalues. Beverly Hill : Sage.
Lewin, Kurt (1943). Defining the “field at a giventime.” Psychological Review, 50, 292-310.
Mischel, W. (1968) Personality and assessment.New York: Wiley.
Roland, A. (1988). In search of self in India andJapan : Towards a cross-culturalpsychology. Princeton, N. J.: PrincetonUniversity Press.
Sinha, J. B. P. (1999). Confluence of culturaland multinational influences. IndianJournal of Industrial Research, 35 (1), 27-42.
Sinha, J. B. P. (2008). Culture andorganizational behaviour. New Delhi:Sage.
Sinha, J. B. P. (2010). Living and DoingPsychology. Psychology & DevelopingSociety, 22 (1), 95-120.
Sinha, J. B. P. (in press). The shifting mindsetof Indians. In G. Misra (Ed.), Discipline ofPsychology in the series “The History ofIndian Science, Philosophy and Culture”,General Editor: D. P. Chattopadhyaya.
Sinha, J. B. P. & Kanungo, R. N. (1997). Contextsensitivity and balancing in organizationalbehaviour. International Journal ofPsychology, 32, 93-105.
Sinha, J. B. P. & Pandey, A. (2007). Indians’mindsets and the conditions that evokethem. Psychological Studies, 52, 1-13.
Sinha, J. B. P., Sinha, T. N., Verma, J. & Sinha,R. B. N. (2001). Collectivism coexistingwith individualism: An Indian scenario.Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 4,133- 145.
Sinha, J. B. P. & Verma, J. (1987). Structure ofcollectivism. In C. Kagitcibasi (Ed.) Growthand progress in cross-cultural psychology(pp. 123-129). Lisse, The Netherlands:Swets & Zetlinger.
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism andcollectivism. Boulder, CO: West ViewPress.
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Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201280
CULTURE-SENSITIVE METHOD FOREXPLORING SOCIAL REALITY
R B N Sinha1
AbstractThe present study juxtaposes the prevailing method of individual respondents’self-ratings with their ratings of how people in the society think, feel, and behavein order to identify a culturally sensitive method to explore social reality. Asample of 100 adults rated predominantly positive and negative description ofbeliefs, values and preferences twice-first for the people residing around themand then for themselves. They also rated themselves on a scale of socialdesirability. The findings confirmed that the respondents attributed negative cognitions(beliefs, values and preferences) to the people more than themselves. Theyattributed predominantly positive beliefs, values and preferences to themselvesand people, although a shade more to themselves. The social desirability orientationwas meaningfully related to respondents’ self but not to people’s related perceptions.The findings thus favoured the use of respondents in informants’ role of judgingpeople’s cognitions of social reality.
IntroductionThere has been a strong tradition in the mainstream of American psychology focussing
on the individual as the unit of study. The Allport brothers (Floyd Allport, 1924; G. W.Allport, 1968) were the ones who played a pioneering role in setting the tradition whereeven a group was conceptualized to be essentially an aggregate of individuals and hence,a group phenomenon was examined from individuals’ perspective. Floyd Allport observedthat “There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially and entirely a psychologyof individuals” (Allport, 1924, p. 4). G. W. Allport advanced this individualistic tradition bysuggesting to study the conscious motivations of individuals. He emphasized a rationalapproach seeking consistency in the complexity of human behaviour. It was argued thatIndividuals are conscious of their cognitions and motivations and are rational in theirbehaviour. Following this individualistic tradition, Edwards (1957) contended that “It mightseem logical to assume that if we want to know how individuals feel about some particularpsychological object; the best procedure would be to ask them directly” (p. 3). Once the
* Head, Department of Psychology, B S College, Danapur, Patna 800 012, & Honorary Faculty,ASSERT Institute of Management Studies, 37, A. N. Path North S. K. Puri, Patna 800 001,E mail: [email protected]. Thanks are acknowledged to Prof. Jai B P Sinha, Professorof Psychology & Management, ASSERT Institute of Management Studies, Patna for hisguidance in preparing the paper.
The Social Engineer 81
individualistic foundation was well laid out,even the social reality was conceptualizedas a totality of how individuals conceive it.A number of scholars (e.g. Hogan, 1975;Sampson, 1977; Spence, 1985) studiedmacro level societal phenomena from thisindividualistic perspective. Hofstede (1980),for example collected responses of IBMemployees in a large number of cultures,aggregated them into cultural scores, andextracted the dimensions to compare thecultures.
Despi te such a strong tradi tionpresuming the validity of individualisticapproach, there were voices of scepticismeven in the West that remained largelyunattended in the psychological research.Edwards (1957), for example, had admitted“the reluctance of many individuals to givepublic expression to their feelings or attitudeson controversial issues…(p. 3)”. Triandis(1980) further cautioned,
Respondent methods [where the subject isresponding to stimuli presented by theresearcher] are more obtrusive, and theyare more likely to be distorted by reactivity.The respondents are more likely to distorttheir answers, so that they will appear tobe socially desirable people to the researcher,their peers, or the authorities in their culture,or from the point of view of their culture’sideal (p. 80).
If individuals’ responses are susceptibleto social desirability effects in an individualisticculture in the USA, they are likely to bemuch more tailored in a collectivist culturewhere people define themselves in terms ofcollectives, comply with social norms ratherthan individual attitudes, yield personal goalsto those of the collectives, and prioritizerelationships over rationality (Triandis, 1995).
The cultural ideal that Triandis referred toabove requires that respondents presentthemselves in a socially desirable fashion.
According to some (Hofstede, 1980;Sinha & Verma, 1987), Indian culture is byand large collectivist while others find thatit is both collectivist and individualist (D.Sinha and Tripathi, 1990; Sinha, Sinha, Verma& Sinha, 2001; Sinha, Vohra, Singhal, Sinha,& Ushashree, 2002; Sinha, 2004). To theextent that the Indian culture is collectivist,Sinha (2010) argued that a way out of theproblem in investigating a social realitywithout getting it contaminated by socialdesirability is to place respondents in therole of informants. In informants’ role,respondents are likely to distance themselvesfrom their own personal views and makeimpersonal observations of the social reality.There is an additional rationale to do so.Because collectives, not individuals, are thecore of social reality in a collectivist culture,it is more appropriate to ask respondentsabout the way they view collectives ratherthan they view themselves. The disciplinesof anthropology and sociology that studylarger chunks of social reality have indeeddeveloped a respectable tradition ofemploying informants (Bernard et al., 1984;Cambell, 1955) respectively. The thirdadvantage lies in bypassing the requirementof having a representative sample, which isa must in a study that employs respondent’smethod. Unless the sample is representative,the aggregated individuals’ self-perceptioncannot reflect the totality of a social reality.On the other hand, even a smaller convenientsample can impersonally provide outsiders’understanding of the reality.
There is, however, a limitation to usingrespondents as informants. Because theyare giving outsiders’ view, their perceptions
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may be stereotypical, and hence only partlyvalid. The limitation can be circumventedby taking a precaution to see that divergentsamples of informants converge in profilingsocial reality. In that case, the seeminglystereotypical responses can be taken forsociotypical (Triandis, 1994, p. 107), andhence valid. A review of literature (Shteynberg,Gelfand, & Kim, 2009, p. 47) revealed thateven stereotypes are powerfully associatedwith the social reality in the sense thatinformants’ descriptions of the cognitionsand behaviours held by the social groupsare closely associated with their actualcognitions and behaviours.
The issue pertaining to the relative meritof respondents versus informant’s methodis still far from settled because the argumentsare still unsupported by a comparativeevaluation of the two methods in a singlestudy. Sinha (2010) has indeed reportedsubstantial support in favour of the informant’smethod, but has not yet compared the two.The present study is an attempt in thisdirection.
The discussion above suggests that therespondents’ self perception compared totheir perception of the people at large willbe affected by the cultural pressure to givesocially desirable responses. It means theirself-perception will be over rated for positiveand under rated for negative beliefs,preferences, and practices. Thus the followinghypothesis is formulated:
H1. Respondents will endorse more stronglypositive beliefs, preferences, andpractices for themselves than for thepeople in their society. The reverse willbe true for negative beliefs preferences,and practices, which will be attributedmore strongly to people than self.
However, there may be a positiverelationship between how respondents viewthemselves and people in their society.Collectivism is known for the inter-dependenceof self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) andinterconnectedness among people. To theextent that Indians are collectivists, theyare likely to perceive themselves connectedto others that in turn might lead to seesimilarity between themselves and otherpeople. Respondents, therefore, may projecttheir own positive as well as negative beliefs,preferences, and practices to them. In orderto test it, the following hypothesis isadvanced:
H2. Respondent’s perception of their beliefs,preferences, and practices will becorrelated with their perception ofpeople’s beliefs, and preferences.
Because the social desirability effectsare presumed to be the bone of contention,the respondents who are high on thedisposition to present them in sociallydesirable fashion are likely to overrate theirpositive and underrate their negative beliefs,preferences, and practices. There is, however,no ground to believe that respondents’ socialdesirability disposition will affect how theyperceive other people. Hence, the followinghypothesis:
H3. Respondents’ scores on a socialdesirability measure will be positivelycorrelated with their score on the positivebeliefs, preferences, and practices andnegatively correlated with the negativebeliefs, preferences, and practices. Thesocial desirability measure will beuncorrelated with respondents’ perceptionof people’s positive and negative beliefs,preferences, and practices.
The Social Engineer 83
MethodSample
The sample consisted of 100 adultsdrawn from Patna (Bihar). They were onaverage 40.38 (SD=12.50) years old withthe range of 20 to 60 years, predominantlymale (70%), married (74%), graduates orpost-graduates (61%) with a significantpercentage (26%) having a Ph.D. degree.They reported belonging mostly to the middle-middle class (71%) with a positively skeweddistribution towards high middle class. Inother words, the sample consisted of urbanmiddle or upper middle class middle agedadults with fairly high levels of education.
MeasuresA questionnaire consisting of items in
three parts was prepared. It measured thefollowing:
Perception of people’s beliefs, prefe-rences, and practices. While selecting ameasure for people’s beliefs, preferences,and practices, care was taken to safeguardagainst a possibility that the items may bestereotypical . Hence, 15 statementsdescribing people’s discrepant beliefs,preferences, and practices were drawn froma study (Sinha, et al., 2010) in which a largesample of adults located at 12 different partsof the country reported were involved. These15 statements were the ones which hadthe highest mean scores indicating that theymapped socio-typical rather than stereotypicalresponses. Three more statements wereadded to them yielding an 18-items measure.Respondents were asked to rate eachstatement on a 5-point scale ranging fromQuite False (1), False (2), Undecided (3),True (4), to Quite True (5).
Because the statements had discrepantideas having both positive and negative
themes, the 9-members seminar of ASSERT*was involved in sorting them as eitherpredominantly positive or predominantlynegative. Seven statements were judged ashaving predominantly positive theme. Twoexamples were the following :● People forget differences and help each
other during disasters.● People become quite creative when they
get challenging opportunities.Of the remaining 11 statements, eight
were unanimously judged to hav epredominantly negative theme while therewere negative in the majority judgment. Oneexample of unanimous and one of majoritydecision were as follows;Unanimously negative:● People run after power and positions,
although they value peace of mind.Negative by majority decision:● People work very hard when they expect
to get amply rewarded.
Self-perception of respondents. Inorder to compare respondents’ perceptionof people and themselves, the same 18statements that were used for perceivingpeople were rephrased to measurerespondents’ perception of their own beliefs,preferences, and practices. Again the same5-point scale was employed. The examplesof rephrased statements were following
Positively worded items :
● I forget differences and help othersduring disasters.
● I become quite creative when I getchallenging opportunities.
Unanimously negative:
● I run after power and position, althoughI value peace of mind.
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Negative by majority decision :
● I work very hard when I expect to getamply rewarded.
Respondents’ social desirability. Itemsfrom the shorter version of the Crowne-MarlowScale (Fischer & Fick, 1993) were modifiedto measure the degree of respondents’disposition to present themselves in a sociallydesirable fashion. The measure consistedof 12 items including three negatively wordeditems. The items were rated on the same5-point scale ranging from Quite False (1),False (2), Undecided (3), True (4), to QuiteTrue (5). Factor analysis by the principalcomponent analysis with the varimax solutionyielded only one factor on the criterion thatthe Eigenvalue should not be less than two.The nine items out of 12 that loaded on thefactor profiled a person with high dispositionto social desirability as the one who forgivesthose who hurt him, always admits whenhe is wrong, does not speak a lie, does notget angry even if he is provoked, is alwayscourteous even to disagreeable people, neveroffends others, and always helps someonein trouble. The alpha coefficient (rii =0.66)was acceptable. The factor accounted for20.21% of variance. Two examples of thehigh loading items were the following:
● I forgive those who hurt me (Loading 0.63)
● I always admit when I am wrong (Loading0.60)
As a check on the measure of socialresponsibility, four statements were alsoincluded in Part-3 measuring on the same5-point scale a respondent's self-perceptionthat he or she was a successful person, aspiritual person, satisfied with my life, andhad the capacity to solve difficult problems
of life. All items loaded very high on a singlefactor, Personal Wellbeing, with loadings of0.71, 0.63, 0.75, and 0.72 respectivelyexplaining 49.48% of variance and the alphacoefficient of 0.78. A positive correlationbetween the wellbeing and social desirabilitywould support the validity of the latter.
Background information regarding age,education, and economic class (low middleclass, middle-middle class, high middle class,and high class) were also collected fordescribing the sample of respondents andexploring whether they have any impact onrespondents’ perceptions of themselves andthe people at large.
ProcedureRespondents were approached indivi-
dually and were requested to rate each itemon a given scale and tick mark the correctalternative. They were told that there wasno right or wrong answer and what theythought were the right answers. They werealso asked to reply as frankly as they can.The questionnaire was administered perso-nally. It took approximately 45 minutes tocomplete the questionnaire. The conveniencesampling method was used. Data were com-pleted in June 2009.
ResultsPerception of Predominantly PositiveStatements
Each of the seven predominantly positivestatements was compared for the respon-dents’ perception of themselves and that ofthe people living around them. Table-1 revealedtwo striking features. First, of the seven,six statements were reported to have highermean scores for self than for people, althoughonly three were statistically significant
The Social Engineer 85
(p <0.001 or 0.01) and one was moderatelysignificant (p <0.05). The results thusconfirmed a trend to manifest strongerendorsement of positive beliefs, preferences,and practices for self than for others, althoughthe trend was not that overwhelming.
Second, six out of seven coefficientsof correlation between self's and people’sperception were either highly (p <0.001 or0.01) or moderately (p <0.05) significant. Itseems that the respondents did project theirown positive beliefs, preferences, andpractices to the people residing around them.The only exception was the item, “Sensewhat others mean and intend” that wasuncorrelated and had a highly significantdifference revealing that the respondentsendorsed it much more for themselves than
for the people. The other three items wherethe respondents had higher mean scoresfor themselves than people were the following:Know when to remain silent and when tosay what, watch out the mood of othersbefore asking for a favour, and becomingquite creativ e when get challengingopportunities. They all showed the socialskills of the respondents.
Perception of Predominantly NegativeStatements
In contrast to the preceding trend, therespondents rated all the 11 negativestatements more true for the people thanfor themselves, the differences were highlysignificant (p< 0.001) for eight of them (Table-2). That is, the respondents perceived thatthe people around them, but not they, run
Table 1 : Comparison of the Ratings of Self and People on Positive Themes
Statements Ratings of Mean SD r t
1. Believe in destiny but struggle People 3.72 0.940.22* 0.57
hard to succeed in life. Self 3.65 1.01
2. Forget differences and help each People 4.15 0.850.26** 1.31
other during disasters. Self 4.28 0.79
3. Become quite creative when get People 3.75 0.940.25** 2.45*
challenging opportunities Self 4.02 0.86
4. Know when to remain silent and People 2.90 1.070.24** 7.60***
when to say what. Self 3.86 0.98
5. Watch out the mood of others People 3.46 0.980.19* 3.35**
before asking for a favour. Self 3.87 0.95
6. Sense what others mean and People 3.22 0.970.13 3.60***
intend. Self 3.68 0.96
7. Have a duty to lead the younger People 3.96 0.970.42*** 0.80
generation Self 4.04 0.89
Note: N = 100, *** <0.001, ** <0.01, * <0.05.
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Table 2 : Comparison of the Ratings of Self and People on Negative Themes
Statements Ratings of Mean SD r t
1. Run after power and positions, People 4.18 0.610.05 6.51***
although value peace of mind. Self 3.28 1.27
2. Talk ideals, but behave in People 4.11 0.710.03 14.48*** selfish manners. Self 2.35 1.01
3. Make promises, but give People 3.90 0.930.18 8.47***excuses for not keeping them. Self 2.80 1.09
4. Believe in science but are People 3.76 1.070.07 4.41***superstitious in behaviour. Self 3.09 1.16
5. Work very hard when expect to People 4.04 0.880.31** 2.77**get amply rewarded? Self 3.72 1.07
6. Throw garbage at public places, People 4.10 0.95-0.05 11.99***though keep own premises clean. Self 2.29 1.13
7. Hide intentions and behave in People 3.81 0.81-0.05 6.60***socially desirable ways. Self 2.90 1.07
8. Give advice even if not asked for. People 3.77 0.990.06 9.88***
Self 2.38 1.06
9. May compromise when a People 3.85 0.830.14 0.09situation so demands? Self 3.84 0.83
10. Concerned about what others People 3.64 0.930.08 1.00think of them/me Self 3.50 1.13
11. Knack to figure out who can be People 3.41 0.980.07 1.39useful in future? Self 3.23 0.92
Note : N = 100 Majority Opinion. *** <0.001, ** <0.01
after power and positions, although valuepeace of mind, talk ideals, but behave inselfish manners, make promises, but giveexcuses for not keeping them, believe inscience but are superstitious in behaviour,work very hard when expect to get amplyrewarded, throw garbage at public places,though keep own premises clean, hide
intentions and behave in socially desirableways, and give advice even if not asked for.In remaining three items the trend was thesame, but the differences were not significantwhere the ones that disclosed a ceiling effect.That is, the respondents judged that boththey and the people around them maycompromise when a situation so demands,
The Social Engineer 87
are concerned about what others think ofthem, and have a knack to figure out whocan be useful in future. They reflected akind of truism in the society.
Another interesting contrast from thepreceding finding was that, compared to sixout of seven significant positive coefficientsof correlation, there was only one negativestatement, “Work very hard when expect toget amply rewarded” that was significantly(p <0.01) correlated. The decision to considerit negative was not unanimous, because someof the ASSERT seminar members felt thatboth hard work and rewards are essentiallypositive, although its linkage hinges on akind of opportunistic motive.
Comparison of Positive and NegativePerceptions of the Self and People
Before comparing the positive andnegative statements for the self and people,it was of interest to check that the items
within four of them had consistency. Alphacoefficients indicated that all four of them,ranging from 0.55 to 0.60, approximated thegenerally acceptable level of 0.60. Hence,respondent]s scores were separately pooled,averaged, and compared to a paired t-test inorder to find out the significant differences inthe perception of positive and negativestatements attributed to the self and others.The findings are reported in Figure-1.
The tests of significance showed thatpositive statements were rated significantlyhigher than negative statements for boththemselves and people (ts =14.20 & 5.45,p=00 respectively). Although the respondentsrated themselves (X=3.91, SD = 0.48) ashade higher than people (X=3.87, SD =0.38) on positive statements, the differencewas not significant (t <0.01, df = 99, p =0.33). Figure-1 revealed that a much morepronounced difference occurred in the ratingsof the negative statements for themselves
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
Positive Negative
Theme
Mea
n Sc
ore
People Self
Figure-1 : Self and People perception on Positive and Negative Themes
Mea
n Sc
ore
ThemesPositive Negative
Vol. 13, No. 1-2, Jan.-July, 201288
and for people. In other words, therespondents considered the negativestatements much less true for themselvesthan for the people around them. There wasprobably a social desirability effect.
Social Desirability and Other Correlatesof Self and People’s Perceptions
The social desirability disposition wasnot correlated to the people’s perceptionsof either positive statements (r =0.08, p >0.05) or for the negative statements (r =0.01,p > 0.05). It was moderately correlated toboth–positive (r =0.24, p < 0.05) and negative(r = -0.21, p < 0.05)– statements about therespondents themselves. In other words,respondents’ disposition to present them-selves in a socially desirable fashion indeedled, though moderately, to attribute positivestatements as more true and the negativestatements as less true. Respondents’ senseof wellbeing was unrelated to all othervariables. More educated respondents wereless negative about themselves. Older andmore educated respondents gave moresocially desirable responses (rs=0.28 & 0.32,p<0.01). Finally, there was nothing unusualabout older people being more educated (r =0.59, p< 0.01) and economically well off(r = 0.22, p < 0.05), the latter two werecorrelated too (r = 0.23, p < 0.05).
DiscussionThe study was part of a larger endeavour
to indigenize psychological research thatProfessor Durganand Sinha initiated and led(D. Sinha, 1986, 1998) since the sixties.Professor Sinha’s efforts, however, wereconfined into the conceptual domains wherehe delineated two major strands– exogenousand conceptual or paradigmatic indigenization.He indeed indigenized the western measures
of the levels of aspiration and a figure-groundtest for assessing f ield dependence-independence. However, it was Professor J.B. P. Sinha who strongly argued that a realindigenization requires innovating methodsthat are determined primarily by theindigenous Indian culture (Sinha, 2003, 2010).He made two clear departures from thewestern methodological paradigm. First, hecontended that Indians hold discrepant beliefs,preferences, and action orientations. Hence,the western guideline for writing single ideaitems was discarded by having items thatconsisted of discrepant components. Sinhaet al. (2010) showed that Indian adults atdifferent locations in the country indeedendorse statements for the people at large.The present study went further to confirmthat such discrepant items are respondedto meaningfully not only with reference tothe people but also for themselves. The fairlyreasonable levels of alpha coefficients ofthe four groups of items (perceptions ofpositive and negative statements about theself and people) indicated that Indian adultsare reasonably consistent in holdingdiscrepant beliefs, preferences, and practices.This was further substantiated by well abovethe objective mid-point scores of therespondents on how they perceived thepeople residing around them.
The second significant methodologicalindigenization that Prof. Sinha (J.B.P.)introduced was putting respondents in therole of informants and asking them to viewsocial reality by distancing themselves fromtheir own individual propensities. Sinha andhis co-workers (see Sinha, 2010 for details)reported a number of studies that empiricallyproved the efficacy of this approach. Thepresent study added further support by
The Social Engineer 89
directly comparing the respondents andinformants methods. It supported Sinha’scontention that self-perception of Indians aremoderated by their high social desirabilitydisposition. It was found to be particularlytrue in rating negative statements forthemselves. The correlations were insignificantfor the people’s perception and significant forthe respondents’ self perception.
Interestingly enough, the respondentsgave higher ratings on the positive statementsfor both themselves and the people residingaround them, although the average scoresfor themselves were a shade higher thanthose for the people. There was also asignificant positive correlation between thetwo. This supported Hypothesis 2 only partlyand instigated the investigator to speculatethat the relationship culture of India inducespeople to see others in a positive light. Onemay even stretch Fiedler (1967) to argue thatif a relationship oriented leader perceives evenhis least preferred co-worker favourably, thereis a possibility the relationship orientedIndians see other people favourably too.
Unexpectedly, respondents’ sense ofwell-being was unrelated to their socialdesirability score. It was expected that thosewho tend to present their socially desirableface will also report a higher level of wellbeing.However, older and better educatedrespondents reported higher levels of socialdesirability. Probably, the culture seasonsthose to remain socially wise.
Despite supportive evidence in favourof employing informant’s method and itemshaving discrepant ideas, there still exists aneed to anchor the findings in actual behaviourof Indians. Probably, another study will samplebehaviours along with verbal measures tofill this gap.
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* Professor & Deputy Director, Graduate School of Management, International Islamic UniversityMalaysia, PO Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E mail: [email protected]
ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICEAND EXTRA-ROLE BEHAVIOR :
DOES CULTURE MATTER?
Arif Hassan *
Abstract
The study proposed to examine the role of organizational justice (OJ) in promotingextra role behavior (ERB). OJ is a multi dimensional construct and involves fairnessof reward/resource allocation decisions, procedural aspects of these decisions, fairnessin interpersonal treatment, and fairness in information and explanation given toemployees concerning decisions relevant to them. ERB involves discretionary behaviorsuch as helping other employees and developing ideas, speaking up on issue andvoicing concerns relevant to the work group. Recent conceptualizations distinguishERB from organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) which includes dimensionssuch as compliance and conscientiousness. Such behaviors promote status quo andare at odds with extra-role behavior that demand employees to 'get off the treadmill'(Prahalad & Hammel, 1996). Van Dyne et al (1995) pointed out ERB should includeproactive rather than passive behavior. The paper is based on a study that uses VanDyne et al measure of ERB. This instrument measures two dimensions of ERB,namely, helping (defined as affiliative and promotive behavior) and voice (defined aschallenging and promotive behavior). Using data from lower and middle level managersfrom a mix of organizations the study validated the four and two dimensional constructof OJ and ERB respectively. The results, however, did not support the hypotheseswhich expected significant contribution of OJ factors on ERBs.
Key words : Organizational justice, extra-role behavior, culture and values.
IntroductionOrganizational justice research over the last four decades has highlighted its important
role in influencing employees’ attitude and work behaviour such as job satisfaction, organizationalcommitment, and organizational citizenship behavior mostly in Western cultural contexts(Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001; Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng, 2001). However,the extent to which these findings can be generalized to non-western work contexts is still
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under-explored. There is growing evidencenow that employees from different socio-cul tural backgrounds with dif ferentexpectations and value systems may alsodiffer in the way they perceive and react totheir organizational environments. Recentresearch has demonstrated that employeesin Taiwan (Farh, Earley & Lin, 1997), HongKong (Lam, Schaubroeck & Aryee, 2002),the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Begley,Lee, Fang, & Li, 2002; Brockner, Ackerman,Greenberg, Gelfand, Francesco, Chen, et al.2001; Tyler, Lind & Huo, 2000), Britain(Fischer & Smith, 2006), former EasternGermany (Fischer & Smith, 2006) and theUSA (Tyler et al., 2000) are influenceddifferently by justice perceptions, dependingon their value orientation. However, the natureand direction of the effect is debatable (Smith,Bond & Kagicitbasi, 2006). Good numbers ofstudies have been conducted in the past toexamine the organizational justice andorganizational citizenship relationships inMalaysia (e.g., Abdullah & Nasrudin, 2008;Lo, Ramayah, & Hui, 2006). However, mostof them have examined one, two, or threedimensional construct of organizational justiceand in-role form of citizenship behaviour, notextra-role behaviour as conceptualized by VanDyne and LePine (1998). As such the presentstudy was designed to examine the fourdimensional model of organizational justiceas advanced by Greenberg (1993) and thenexamined its relationship with employees’extra - role behaviour in a non-westerncultural setting. It was expected that thefindings would add value to the existing bodyof knowledge on organizational justice andwork behaviour relationships. The study wasconducted in Malaysia.
Concept of Organizational JusticeThe term organizational justice describes
the role of fairness as it directly relates tothe workplace. Specifically, organizationaljustice is concerned with the ways in whichemployees determine if they have beentreated fairly in their jobs and the ways inwhich those determinations influence otherwork related variables (Moorman, 1991).There is a general consensus thatorganizational justice consists of at least twocomponents, namely distributive andprocedural justice. The former is concernedwith perception of fairness in distribution ofreward, whereas the latter is concerned withthe fairness of the process of allocationdecisions (Adams, 1965). A number ofprocedural justice criteria have been outlined,such as opportunities for control of theprocess and the outcomes, ability to voiceone’s view points, (Folger, & Cropanzano1998) consistency, lack of bias, availabilityof appeal mechanisms, accuracy, use ofaccurate information and following ethical andmoral norms (Leventhal, 1980).
After a conceptual analysis of theexisting l i terature, Greenberg (1993)suggested that there may be four differentcomponents of organizational justice orderedalong two independent dimensions. The firstdimension is the classical differentiation ofjustice focusing either on procedures oroutcomes. The second dimension refers tothe focal determinant (either structural orinterpersonal). Greenberg (1993) argued thattraditionally procedural and distributive justicedealt with structural aspects. The focus ison the environmental context within whichthe interaction occurs, e.g., the proceduresused to determine an outcome and the
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perceived fairness of the final outcome.Interpersonal and informational justice dealwith the treatment of individuals, and thereforethe emphasis is on social determinants.These two dimensions can be integrated,leading to four distinct parts of justice:procedural (procedures, structural), distributive(distributions, structural), informational(procedures, social) and interpersonal justice(distributions, social). This framework providedan important role in highl ighting theconceptual distinction between social andstructural aspects of organizational justice.
Subsequently Colquitt (2001) developedand validated a measure differentiating thesefour components. This scale has beensuccessfully used in longitudinal studies inthe US (Judge & Colquitt, 2004). Theusefulness of this four factor conceptualizationis evidenced in studies relating them tovarious organizational outcomes (Colquitt,2001; Colquitt et al, 2001).
There is, however, a relatively absenceof work on the distinctiveness of these fourdimensions of organizat ional just iceperceptions across cultures, largely becauseprevious research has primarily focused ondistributive justice (Leung & Bond, 1984; seeFischer and Smith, 2003 for a review).Although there is some evidence thatdistributive, procedural and a broaderinteract ional just ice dimension aredistinguished by individuals outside the US,including samples from Taiwan (Farh, Earley& Lin, 1997), Hong Kong (Fields, Pang &Chiu, 2000) and the Netherlands (van denBos, Lind, Vermunt & Wilke, 1997), otherresearch suggests that individuals in differentparts of the world may not differentiatebetween the various dimensions of
organizational justice (Bolino &Turnley, 2007;Fischer, 2002). However, in a recent studyFischer et al (2008) examined the universalityof the four factor model of organizationaljustice perception in thirteen countries. Datawere collected from Argentina, Brazil, Egypt,Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand,Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, UKand US. Using a combination of confirmatoryfactor analysis and multi group covarianceanalyses Colquitt’s (2001) four dimensionalmeasure of justice yielded the best fitcompared to the three two and onedimensional models across the sample.
Concept of Extra-Role BehaviorOrgan (1988, 1990) pioneered the
concept of extra-role behavior (ERB)–organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).OCBs are defined as “those organizationallybeneficial behaviors and gestures that canneither be enforced on the basis of formalrole obligations nor elicited by contractualguarantees or recompose” (Organ, 1990, p.46). Of late, doubt has been raised on thevalue of such OCBs. For example, Chiaburuand Baker(2006) contended: “…behaviorssuch as helping colleagues with workloads,attending functions that are not required, andobeying informal organizational norms mightbe construed as supporting the status-quoand perpetuating organizational proceduresand routines that are less-than-perfect forenhanced performance.” Such complianceand uncritical support may be at odds withbusiness imperatives that require employeesto “getting off the treadmill” (Prahalad andHammel, 1996, p.1). It is therefore importantto encourage ERBs that are challenging-promotive rather than affiliative-promotive (VanDyne et al, 1995).
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Van Dyne et al (1995) clarified manyprev ious conceptual ambiguities andsuggested that ERBs can be distinguishedbased on whether the behavior is proactiveand challenging or cooperative and non-challenging. Compliance and conscien-tiousness is a core dimension oforganizational citizenship behavior and hasbeen one of the most popular extra-roleconcepts. Compliance refers to behaviordirected to the organization, such asattendance and obedience to rules that goesbeyond minimum required levels. Van Dyneet al (1995) pointed out that these behaviorsare more passive and are often part of one’sin-role job expectations. Therefore,compliance is conceptually closely relatedto formal in-role behavior. The two conceptsthat focus on more proactive aspects of ERBare personal initiative (Ferse, Fay, Hillburger,Leng, & Tag, 1997) and voice (Van Dyne &Lepine, 1998). These types of behavior includeencouraging and promoting change throughconstructively challenging the status quo andovercoming barriers and setbacks. Thesebehaviors might damage the relationships withsuperiors, with initiative even implying “acertain rebell ious element towardssupervisors” (Frese et al, 1997, p. 141)
Van Dyne et al. (1995) developed a newtypology of ERB contrasting promotive versusprohibitive behavior and affiliative versuschallenging behavior. ‘Promotive behaviors areproactive; they promote, encourage, or causethings to happen. Prohibitive behaviors areprotective and preventative; they includeinterceding to protect those with less poweras well as speaking out to stop inappropriateor unethical behavior. Affiliative behavior isinterpersonal and cooperative. It strengthensrelationships and is other-oriented. Challengingbehavior emphasizes ideas and issues. It is
change-oriented and can damage relationships’(Van Dyne & LePine, 1998, p. 108). Van Dyneand LePine (1998) subsequently developedan instrument measuring helping (affiliative andpromotive) and voice (challenging andpromotive) behaviors. Using a two-stagelongitudinal design involving both self, peerand supervisor ratings, they demonstrated theempirical validity of this instrument. Sincethe authors did not provide any empiricalvalidity for affiliative prohibitive (i.e., stewardship) and challenging prohibitive (i.e., whistleblowing) only two dimensions of ERB, namely,affiliative promotive (i.e., helping) andchallenging promotive (i.e., voice) wereexamined in this study.
Van Dyne, & LePine, (1998) defined‘helping’ as promotive behav ior thatemphasizes small acts of consideration. It isaffiliative because it builds and preservesrelationships and emphasizes interpersonalharmony. ‘Voice’ was defined as promotivebehavior that emphasizes expression ofconstructive challenge intended to improverather than merely to criticize. Voice is makinginnovative suggestions for change andrecommending modifications of standardprocedures even when others disagree.
Studies conducted on OrganizationalCitizenship/Extra Role Behavior in Malaysia(For example, Abdullah & Nasrudin, 2008; Lo,Ramayah & Hui 2006) have generallymeausred cooperative and non-challenging(compliance and conscientiousness)dimensions of OCB which, as stated earlier,are conceptually closely related to in-role ratherthan extra-role behavior. The present study,however, examined proactive and challengingaspects of ERB. This study, therefore, isexpected to further enrich our knowledge onorganizational justice and employees’ behaviorrelationships.
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Organizational Justice andEmployees’ BehaviorMoorman (1991) while examining therelationship between organizational justiceand employees’ behavioral outcomes arguedfor measuring non-traditional types of behaviorsuch as ERB. According to him traditionaloutcomes like job performance depends uponseveral factors beyond the control of theperson. On the contrary extra-role behaviorsare on-the-job behaviors that are not usuallycaptured by traditional job descriptions andthus are more likely to be under personalcontrol (Organ, 1977, 1997).
Organizational justice is likely to showa strong relationship to self-reported ERB(conceptualized as proactive and challenging).A meta-analysis of predominantly Westernstudies by Colquitt et al. (2001) showed thatERB directed towards individuals (e.g.,helping) was mostly strongly related tointerpersonal justice, followed by informationaland procedural justice and then distributivejustice. ERB directed towards the organization(e.g., voice) was most strongly related tobroadly-defined procedural justice, closelyfollowed by distributive justice and theninformational justice. This suggests that allfour justice components are related to ERB,but the extent is likely to differ across differentcultural contexts. Depending on the particularcultural context and dominant values,individuals may pay more or less attention toorganizational justice.
Good number of studies has beenconducted on the antecedents andconsequences of traditionally defined OCB(conceptualized as cooperative and non-challenging). For example, Turnipseed (1996)examined the relationship between
organizational citizenship and the environmentin which that citizenship behaviour ismanifested. He also examined whether goodcitizenship is a personal characteristics whichis demonstrated irrespectiv e of theenvironment. Sample of the study wereofficers in US army. The findings supportedthe OCB and work environment relationship.He reported that work environment promotinginvolvement and task orientation significantlycontributed to OCB. The study also found asignificant correlation between citizenshipbehaviour and individual productivity. Gautamet al (2005) examined the factor structure ofOCB and identif ied two usable one inNepalese organizations. These were: altruismand compliance replicating traditional Westernmodels of OCBs. Further they investigatedthe relationship of these two factors with threedimensions of organizational commitment,namely, affective, normative, and continuance.The results indicated a positive relationshipof both factors of OCBs with affective as wellas normative commitment. However,continuance commitment was negativelyrelated to compliance and showed norelationship with altruism.
Some studies have also examined theantecedents and consequences of OCBs aswell as some methodological issues inMalaysian context. For example, Othman etal (2005) hypothesized that psychologicalcontract violation during the process oforganizational downsizing inf luenceemployees’ justice perception which moderatecitizenship behaviour. They reported partialsupport for the model. Abdullah and Nasrudin(2008) examined the relationship betweenOrganizational Justice (OJ) (Distributive andProcedural Justice) and OCB in Malaysianhospitality industry. They reported significant
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relationship between OJ and OCB. Lo,Ramayah and Hui (2006) investigated the roleof quality of leader-member relationship (LMX)in promoting OCB among executives andmanagers in Malaysian manufacturingorganizations. They found signif icantcontribution of LMX on employees’ citizenshipbehaviour. Khalid and Ali (2005) comparedthe self rating scores with supervisor’s ratingsof employees’ citizenship behaviour and foundthe two to be positively correlated, thoughthe mean score of self rating was higher thansupervisor’s rating.
HypothesesBased on the literature review the
following hypotheses were developed.
H1: All the four forms of organizationaljustice, namely, distributive, procedural,interactional, and informational justicewill positively contribute to helpingdimension of extra-role-behavior.
H2: All the four forms of organizationaljustice, namely, distributive, procedural,interactional, and informational justicewill positively contribute to voicedimension of extra- role-behavior.
Sample and Method ofData Collection
Data were collected from middle andlower middle level supervisors/managers froma mix of organizations. Sample consisted of231 employees (Female = 118; Male = 113)representing a var iety of industr ies(agriculture, manufacturing, electricity andgas, transportation/storage, communication,finance, community service, entertainment,education, health, consulting & researchservices, and information technology). Their
mean age was 34.21 and they had a fair mixof races belonging to the Malaysianpopulation. (Malay = 71.6%; Chinese =21%;Indian = 7.4%). On an average they wereworking with the present organization for aperiod of 4.3 years.
Data were collected on and with theassistance of students who were enrolled inthe executive MBA program of a local publicuniversity. Surveys were always completedoutside work hours. It was stressed thatcomplet ion and submission of thequestionnaire was entirely voluntary and thatanswers were treated anonymously. The datacollection method did not allow an exactcalculation of response rates.
Measurements1. Organizational Justice
The organizational justice measuredeveloped by Colquitt (2001) was used in thestudy. This scale measures procedural,distributive, informational and interpersonalaspects of organizational justice. It has beendeveloped and validated in the US (Colquitt,2001). The 7- point scale (1 = not at all; 7 =to a great extent) consisted of 20 items –seven measuring procedural justice, fourmeasuring interactional justice, f iveinformational justice, and four measuringdistributive justice.
To examine the empirical validity, thescale was factor analyzed using principal axismethod with varimax rotation, limiting factorextraction to Eigen value > 1:00. The methodyielded four usable factors. This validated thea-priori scale dimensions. Together the fourfactors explained 61.13 percent of thevariance. Factor loadings, descriptivestatistics, and reliability values are displayedin Table 1.
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Table 1
Factor Structure of Organizational Justice Scale
Factor loadings
Items Factor Factor Factor Factor1 2 3 4
1. Has s/he treated you in a polite manner? 0.76
2. Has s/he treated you with dignity? 0.81
3. Has s/he treated you with respect? 0.78
4. Has s/he refrained from improper remarksor comments? 0.76
5. Has s/he been candid in communicationswith you? 0.75
6. Does your outcome reflect the effort you haveput into your work? 0.77
7. Is your outcome appropriate for the work youhave completed? 0.81
8. Does your outcome reflect what you havecontributed to the organization? 0.66
9. Is your outcome justified, given yourperformance? 0.60
10. Has s/he explained the procedures leadingto a decision thoroughly? 0.59
11. Were his/her explanations regarding the pro-cedures leading to a decision reasonable? 0.70
12. Has s/he communicated details in a timelymanner? 0.63
13. He s/he seemed to tailor his/her communi-cations to individual needs? 0.70
Have you been able to express your viewsand feelings during these procedures? 0.79
Have you had influence over the outcomesarrived at by those procedures? 0.65
Have you been able to appeal the outcomearrived at by those procedures? 0.63
% Variance 18.69 16.49 14.51 11.43
Mean 3.99 3.52 3.66 3.16
SD 1.06 0.82 1.04 0.79
Alpha 0.82 0.92 0.89 0.90
Note: N = 100, *** <0.001, ** <0.01, * <0.05.
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Factor 1 consisted of five items of whichfour belonged to the original interactionaljustice scale dimension and one to theinformational justice. Factor 2 consisted offour items which belonged to the distributivejustice dimension of the scale. Four itemsdesigned to measure informational justiceloaded on Factor 3 and Factor 4 consistedof three items from the procedural justicedimension of the scale. Thus Factor 1 waslabeled as interactional justice, Factor 2 asdistributive justice, Factor 3 as informationaljustice, and Factor 4 as procedural justice.
Alpha values demonstrated good reliability ofthe scale dimensions. Mean values of thefour organizational justice facets were on thelower side of the scale. Interactional justiceobtained the highest endorsement of 3.99 ona 7-point scale (See Table 1).
2. Extra-role Behavior. The studyused the helping and voice scale developedby Van Dyne and LePine (1998). The scaleconsisted of 12 items, seven measuringhelping and five measuring voice behavior.Responses were obtained on a 7-point scale(1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree).
Table 2 : Factor structure of ERB Scale
Factor loadingsItems Factor-1 Factor-2
1. I help orient new employees in this group 0.66
2. I attend functions that help this work group 0.76
3. I help others in this group with their work for the benefitof this work group 0.76
4. I get involved to benefit this work group 0.81
5. I help others in this group learn about the work 0.78
6. I help others in this group with their work responsibilities 0.51
7. I develop and make recommendations concerning issuesthat affect this work group 0.62
8. I speak up and encourage others in this group to getinvolved in issues that affect the group 0.73
9. I communicate my opinions about work issues to others inmy group even if my opinion is different and others in thegroup disagree with me 0.81
10. I keep well informed about the issues where my opinionmight be useful to my work group 0.84
11. I speak up in my group with ideas for projects or changesin procedures 0.87
12. % Variance 34.76 33.37
13. Mean 4.60 4.44
14. SD 0.74 0.78
15. Alpha 0.91 0.92
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Factor analysis using the sameprocedure, as described earl ier, withorganizational justice scale, yielded twousable factors providing empirical validity tothe a-priori scale dimensions. Factor 1consisted of 6 items from the original ‘helping’dimension and Factor 2 included all five itemsof the original ‘voice’ dimension of the scale.Thus the two extracted factors were labeledas ‘helping’ and ‘voice’ respectively. Factorloadings are displayed in Table 2. Alphavalues demonstrated good reliability of thescale dimensions. Mean scores of the twodependent measures, namely, helping andvoice were moderate. Helping behavior showhigher endorsement (Mean = 4.6) comparedto voice (Mean = 4.44).
ResultsTable 3 presents the correlation matrix
of the study variables.
Correlation coefficient suggested that allfour dimensions of organizational justice weresignificantly correlated. Also, helping and voicedimensions of the ERB scale weresignificantly correlated. Significant correlationswere also obtained between ‘helping’ and alldimensions of organizational justice exceptprocedural justice. Voice as ERB did notcorrelate with interactional justice but yieldedsignificant correlations with the other threejustice variables.
Gender (coded as male = 0, female =1) was negatively correlated with both ERBfactors suggesting females less interested inextra roles. Also tenure yielded negativerelationship with interactional justiceindicating that seniority and perception ofinteractional justice were inversely correlated.However, age of employees was positivelycorrelated with help dimension of ERB.Correlation was also positive and significant
Table 3 : Intercorrelations among study variables
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Int J –
2. DstJ 0.38** –
3. InfJ 0.68** 0.63** –
4. ProJ 0.19* 0.49** 0.41** –
5. Help 0.26* 0.29** 0.28* 0.02 –
6. Voice 0.12 0.33** 0.32** 0 .23* 0.68** –
7. Age –0.12 0.07 –0.16 –0.07 0.23* 0.16 –
8. Gender –0.10 –0.04 –0.15 –0.13 –0.27* –0.25** 0.03 –
9. Tenure –0.18* 0.14 –0.08 –0.12 0.19* 0.17 0.85** –0.24* –
10. Postn 0.19* –0.13 0.07 –0.14 –0.17 –0.26* –0.54** –0.47** –0.47** –
**p<.01, *p<.05; Gender (Male = 0; Female = 1; Position (Managerial = 1; Non- managerial = 2); N= 231
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between job position and interactional justicesuggesting that non-managerial staff gavehigher endorsement to this aspect oforganizational justice compared to managers.
In order to examine the contribution oforganizational justice variables on ERB thedata was subjected to multiple regressionanalysis. Table 4 displays the result.
Regression result indicated nosignificant contribution of any organizationaljustice factors on the two dependentmeasures, namely, helping and voice, exceptgender. In case of ‘helping’ all the independentvariables entered in the equation and togetherthey explained 17 percent of the variance.Similarly in case of ‘voice’ all independentvariables entered in equation and explained15 percent of the variance. Thus theregression result demonstrated overallsignificance of the model though thecontributions of independent variables werenot so except for gender on helping behavior.The negative contribution of gender on ERB(Help) may be interpreted that femaleemployees in Malaysia are less inclined tothis form of extra roles.
Discussion and ConclusionsThe study prov ided a number of
significant results. First, it provided empiricalsupport to the four dimensional measure oforganizational justice developed by Colquitt(2001) and two dimensional measure of ERBdeveloped by Van Dyne and LePine (1998).Secondly, the study distinguished itself fromprevious studies on organizational citizenshipbehavior in Malaysian context by employinga measure that captured proactive andchallenging aspects of extra-role behaviorrather than cooperative and non–challengingfacets of OCBs. However, the results werenot in the hypothesized direction as none ofthe organizational justice components madeany significant impact on either ‘helping’ or‘voice’ dimensions of extra-role behavior. Theresults differed from Western literature (e.g.Colquitt et al, 2001) which indicatedsignificant contributions of the four forms oforganizational justice on the two dimensionsof extra-role behavior. The finding also goesagainst those who reported significantrelationship between organizational justiceand citizenship behavior in Malaysia (forexample, Abdullah and Nasrudin, 2008).
Table 4 : Regression predicting HELPING and VOICE as extra role behavior
Predictors HELPING VOICE
St. t Sig St. t Sig
1. DistJ 0.25 1.16 0.10 0.16 1.05 0.29
2. ProJ 0.23 1.14 0.07 0.01 0.04 0.94
3. IntrJ 0.09 0.31 0.54 –0.12 –0.77 0.43
4. InfoJ 0.18 0.19 0.11 0.28 1.32 0.11
5. Age 0.35 1.06 0.21 0.10 0.44 0.65
6. Gender –0.23 –0.21 0.03 –0.20 –1.51 0.07
7. Tenure –0.24 –1.1 0.24 –0.06 –0.23 0.78
8. Position –0.08 –0.68 0.33 –0.18 –1.23 0.16
Adj. R2 = 0.17; F = 3.12, p<0.01 Adj. R2 = 0.15, F = 2.82, p<0.01
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The results of the study may beinterpreted in relation to the unique socio-cultural characteristics of Malaysian society.Culture constitutes shared meaning andvalues systems (Hofstede, 2001) which maybe treated as contextual variables (Poortinga& van de Vijver, 1987) having normativeinfluence on individuals within cultures.Studies conducted on Malaysian socialvalues generally identify it with high powerdistance, and collectivism (Asma 1996;Hofstede, 2001; Carl, Gupta & Javidan, 2003;Fontaine and Richardson 2005). Powerdistance is conceptualized as the degree towhich people accept unequal distribution ofpower in a society. Individualism is the extentto which people value personal freedom, selfsufficiency, control over their lives, andappreciation of the unique qualities thatdistinguish them from others. Collectivism isdefined as the extent to which people valueduty to groups to which they belong and, togroup harmony (McShane & Von Glinow,2008).
Schwartz (1992) conceptualized valuesclusters into ten motivational types havingtwo opposing dimensions. One of them rangesfrom self- direction, stimulation, and hedonismto preference for security, conformity, andtradition. The former is labelled as ‘opennessto change’ and the latter as ‘conservation’.This dimension summarizes a conflictbetween emphasis on one’s own independentthoughts, actions, and interests as well aspositive attitude towards change at the endwhereas the opposite end ref lects asubmission of oneself, preservation oftraditional practices, valuing and protectingthe stability of one’s life, and attempts to
preserve the status quo. Schwartz’sconceptualization is similar to Hofstede’sconcept of power distance where opennessto change reflects lower power distance andconservation indicates higher power distance.Studies have shown the validity of thisdimension as a predictor of culturaldifferences in organizational attitude andbehaviour such as co-operation, competition,and conflict management styles (Kozan &Ergin, 1999; Morris, Williams, Leung, Larrick,Mendoza, Bhatnagar, LI, Kondo,Luo, & Hu,1998; Schwartz, 1996). Those who valueconservation are likely to accept decisionsmade by their superiors, without questioningor scrutinizing them in terms of perceivedjustice. Their social relations are more likelyto be role constrained and they are less likelyto focus on the quality of their relationshipwith superiors, because they already accepttheir position in the workplace. Thisacceptance is motivated by their belief insocial order, obedience to authorities, andacceptance of their position within the socialorder. They do not need relational informationin the form of justice to determine their socialstanding (cf. Fischer & Smith (2006). Onthe other hand those who value openness tochange over conservation are more likely tofocus on justice as they are less concernedfor preserving social order or traditional roleobligations. Rather than emphasizing loyalty,obedience, and role obligation they wouldfocus more on the quality of treatment (Tyleret al., 2000). Concern for just iceconsequently becomes more salient in thiscase. Using Schwartz’s value profile Fontaineand Richardson (2005) examined thedifferences among three racial groups in
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Malaysia, namely, Malay, Chinese, andIndian. They reported more similarities thandifferences among them. Overall the meanscores for the three groups suggested thatthey preferred respect for tradition and culturalembeddedness.
According to Lind et al (1997) inhierarchical or high power distance societies,people are embedded in groups with strongpower differentials. These individuals are usedto unequal distribution of power and may beless likely to focus on justice issues. Thereare evidence to suggest that those who heldmore egalitarian values were more stronglyinfluenced by justice concerns, whereas thosewho believed that power should be distributedunequally were not influenced in their jobattitudes by lack of justice (such as voiceand participation in decision making)(Brockner et al, 2001). Farh et al (1997) foundthat traditional values served as moderatorsof the organizational justice-extra-rolebehaviour relationship. Strong moderatoreffects were found in particular for distributiveand interpersonal justice dimensions.
Similarly, studies suggest that workrelationships in collectivistic settings are oftenseen in terms of family. Employees are moreconcerned with maintaining harmoniousrelationships within their immediate workgroups (Erdogan & Liden, 2005). Collectivistsare also more likely to maintain relationshipseven when these relationships are notpersonally advantageous any more (Triandis,1995). Obligation and loyalty are important.Therefore, in collectivistic settings, it is likelythat employees are less concerned withorganizational justice and are less likely tomonitor the extent to which they are fairly
treated or to what extent they have receivedthe rewards. Collectivists will engage inhelping behaviour or make suggestions thatwill benefit the organization, relativelyindependent of organizational justice. Incontrast, employees in individualistic settingare more concerned with rational calculationof costs and benefits in their work relations(Triandis, 1995).
Limitations and SuggestionsThe study did not employ any measure
for cultural values and was based on thefindings of other studies on culture and valueswhich suggested that Malaysians score highon cross cultural values of power distanceand collectivism. Also, the measure ofdistributive justice in the study was basedon equity principle. There may be other basisof distribution such as equality and needwhich may be culturally more significant inMalaysian context. The study also has thelimitation of cross sectional design limitingthe causal explanation of the variables.Further studies are required to examine theseissues.
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